SWISS CONFEDERATION

• Official name: Confederation Suisse / Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft / Confederazione Svizzera / Confederaziun Svizra (Swiss Confederation). To avoid the problem of four official languages the Latin form Confoederatio Helvetica is sometimes used.
• Location: Western Europe
• International organisations: Council of Europe, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, United Nations, World Trade Organisation
• Borders: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein
• Coastline: None
• Land area: 41,290 Km2
• Population: 7,800,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$41,700 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 13
• Ethnicity: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%.
• Languages: French, German and Italian are official languages. Romansch, an indigenous Latin-based language, is also in theory an official language, but is spoken by only 1% of the population. German is the first language of 64%, French of 20%, and Italian of 8%. Most citizens are bilingual. English is widely used in business and communications.
• Religion: 85% of Swiss are at least nominal Christians (Catholic 45%, Protestant 40%), but religious practice has declined greatly.
• Form of government: Federal parliamentary democratic republic. Switzerland is a federation of 26 self-governing cantons.
• Capital: Bern
• Constitution: The Constitution of the Swiss Federation came into effect on 29 May 1874. The Constitution was revised in 1999, without altering its essentials.
• Head of state: The President, elected by the legislature for a one-year term. President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf of the People's Party took office on 1 January 2012.
• Head of government: The President, who heads the Federal Council (the Cabinet) and is accountable to the legislature. The members of the Cabinet are elected by the legislature.
• Legislature: Switzerland has a bicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly (Assemblee Federale / Bundesversammlung / Asamblea Federale / Assemblea Federala). The National Council (Conseil National / Nationalrat / Consiglio Nazionale / Cussegl Naziunal) has 200 members, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies corresponding to the cantons. The Council of States (Conseil des Etats / Standerat / Consiglio degli Stati / Cussegl dals Stadis) has 46 members elected for four-year terms from multi-member and single-member constituencies.
• Electoral authority: The Federal Chancellery conducts national elections.
• Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 1
• Transparency International Corruption Index: 87% (8 of 178 countries rated)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom 2010 Index: 82.5% (62 of 178 countries rated)
• Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom 2010 Index: 81.5% (5 of 179 countries rated)

Political history

The Swiss Federation was formed, originally by three cantons, in 1291, and gradually expanded to include more cantons until it assumed its present boundaries in 1815. It has been generally recognised as a sovereign state since the 17th century. Following a brief civil war between conservative Catholics and liberal cantons, a system of federal constitutional government was established in 1848. The 1867 constitution provided for a federal legislature elected by universal male suffrage. Switzerland was the last major European state to allow women to vote, in 1971.

Switzerland has a unique system of parliamentary government. The legislature elects a seven-member Federal Council every four years, which functions as a Cabinet. One member of the Council is elected President each year, and is the nearest equivalent to a Prime Minister. Government is not party-based: since 1959 the Council has included members of all the major parties represented in the Federal Assembly.

Switzerland has a complex party system, since parties reflect the country's linguistic and cantonal fragmentation as well as class interests. The parties in the governing coalition are the conservative Swiss People's Party and Christian Democratic People's Party, the moderate Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, and the Liberal Party of Switzerland. Other parties include the Green Party, the anti-immigration Swiss Democrats, the conservative Protestant People's Party and the radical Swiss Labour Party. In recent elections the Swiss People's Party has gained ground at the expense of the other coalition parties, mainly by exploiting the immigration issue, but at the 2011 election the Swiss People's Party lost ground to the Socialists.

Updated January 2012