Guy Parmelin elected President of the Swiss Confederation with record results
Keystone-SDA
Economics Minister Guy Parmelin will be President of the Swiss Confederation for a second time in his career in 2026.
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Parmelin surpassed his 2021 result and achieved a record result for this Millennium.
A total of 228 ballot papers were submitted with 203 votes in favour of Parmelin, five were invalid and 13 were blank. Seven members of parliament voted in favour of someone other than Parmelin.
Before his first presidential year in 2021, the 66-year-old Swiss People’s Party politician had received 188 votes. When he was elected Vice-President a year ago, 196 members of parliament voted in his favour.
Although the election to the presidency is considered a formality, it is often used by parliamentarians to express their disapproval or approval of members of the government.
In this Millennium, presidents have received an average of 172 votes from parliament. The best elected presidents in the past 25 years were Ueli Maurer with 201 votes in 2019, Pascal Couchepin with 197 votes in 2008 and Johann Schneider-Ammann with 196 votes in 2016.
The worst result in recent decades was achieved by Micheline Calmy-Rey in 2011 with 106 votes. Alain Berset’s result in 2023 was also well below average. He received 140 votes at the time.
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
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