The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Swiss canton elects first woman council chief

Innerrhoden Landsgemeinde elects first woman Landammann
Innerrhoden Landsgemeinde elects first woman Landammann Keystone-SDA

The Swiss canton of Appenzell Inner Rhodes has for the first time elected a woman as head of the local government.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Angela Koller will succeed Roland Inauen as Landammann (equivalent to mayor) and director of education following the council vote on Saturday.

Angela Koller prevailed against three competitors. While two of them received significantly fewer votes, it was closer between Koller and the candidate of the important cantonal trade association. In the end, however, Koller also prevailed against Pius Federer.

More

She is a lawyer and has been a politician on the cantonal council for several years. Like Inauen, she is a member of the influential Appenzell Employees’ Association. She will initially take over the office of standing mayor.

Roland Dähler (Department of Economic Affairs), who is currently a member of the Ethics Committee, was elected as the governing Landammann. The two cantonal officials alternate every two years as governing Landammann and standing Landammann.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.

External Content
A smartphone displays the SWIplus app with news for Swiss citizens abroad. Next to it, a red banner with the text: ‘Stay connected with Switzerland’ and a call to download the app.

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

Financial crisis hits the WHO

More

WHO opens annual meeting amid financial crisis

This content was published on The World Health Organization (WHO) boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the Geneva-based UN agency has revised down its budget to $4.2 billion (CHF3.5 billion) for 2026-2027.

Read more: WHO opens annual meeting amid financial crisis
Bern police uncover major case of human trafficking

More

Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring

This content was published on Bern cantonal police have smashed a major human trafficking ring. Five people are accused of luring over 100 Chinese women to Switzerland to exploit them as sex workers.

Read more: Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring
Switzerland announces funding of 80 million dollars for the WHO

More

Switzerland pledges $80 million to WHO

This content was published on Switzerland plans to give an additional $80 million (CHF67 million) for the 2025-2028 period to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is facing financial difficulties.

Read more: Switzerland pledges $80 million to WHO

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