Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss committee wants to end government resignations during legislative term

A commission wants to put an end to resignations from the Federal Council during a legislative term
The Swiss government and Federal Chancellor (left). Keystone-SDA

Members of the seven-person Swiss Federal Council should no longer be able to leave office before the end of their term, according to the House of Representatives' political institutions committee.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Parliamentarian Gerhard Pfister, who proposed the idea, pointed out that members of the government are elected for four years after each full renewal of the House of Representatives. In practice, however, resignations during a term of office are not uncommon.

They are sometimes dictated by partisan tactics, in particular to save a seat. These early elections are synonymous with great turmoil, the committee said.

+ Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd announces resignation

Pfister therefore calls for a fixed term of office to guarantee greater calm and stability. Early resignations should only be permitted for extraordinary reasons.

The issue now goes to the Senate.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR