Fribourg senator Urs Schwaller is the centre-right Christian Democratic Party's official candidate for election to the federal cabinet on September 16.
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The 56-year-old lawyer was chosen in a secret ballot on Tuesday after rivals Dominique de Buman and Luigi Pedrazzini pulled out.
The Christian Democrats are challenging the seat of Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, one of two centre-right Radical Party representatives in the seven-member cabinet. He is to step down next month.
The Radicals have put two names on their list, Didier Burkhalter and Christian Lüscher.
The Green Party confirmed it would not be entering the race but would support the candidate with the political views closest to its own.
The other main parties have not yet announced which candidate they will vote for on election day.
The cabinet is made up of two members from the Radicals and two from the centre-left Social Democrats, as well as one from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, one from the Christian Democrats and one from the centre-right Conservative Democrats.
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Christian Democrat makes surprise cabinet bid
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The party vice-president is the fifth candidate to join the race to replace outgoing Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin in November. De Buman’s announcement has caused surprise among his party and observers. The 53-year-old French-speaker has been a member of parliament since 2003. He was also mayor of Fribourg from 1994 to 2004. De Buman told…
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In an interview with swissinfo.ch, the expert from Bern University and the independent election platform Smartvote explains how the Swiss tick when it comes to replacing a member of the government and why the role of the media remains limited. There is a vacancy in the multi-party cabinet since the Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin announced…
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Parliament is due to elect the new cabinet member on September 16. The successful candidate will take up his or her post in November.
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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.