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Politics of Switzerland takes place in a framework of a Federal Parliamentary Democratic Republic , whereby the Federal Council Of Switzerland is the Head Of Government , and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive Power is exercised by the government. Federal Legislative Power is vested in both the Government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly Of Switzerland . The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Switzerland is the closest state in the world to a Direct Democracy . For any change in the constitution, a Referendum is mandatory; for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested. EXECUTIVE BRANCH See Also: Swiss Federal Council The , Samuel Schmid , Micheline Calmy-Rey , Pascal Couchepin , Christoph Blocher , Hans-Rudolf Merz and Moritz Leuenberger . The largely ceremonial President Of The Swiss Confederation and Vice-President are elected by the Federal Assembly from among the members of the Federal Council for one-year terms that run concurrently. The current (2006) President and Vice President are Moritz Leuenberger and Micheline Calmy-Rey , respectively. The Swiss executive is one of the most stable governments worldwide. Since , 2 Social Democratic , 2 Christian Democratic , and 1 Swiss People's Party . Changes in the council occur, in practice, only if one of the members resigned; this member was then replaced by someone from the same party (and preferably also from the same language group and sex). This "magic formula" has also been criticised in the 1960s for excluding leftist opposition parties, in the 1980s for excluding the emerging Green party, and after the 1999 election particularly by the People's Party, which had by then grown from the fourth largest to the largest party. In the Elections Of 2003 the People's Party (formerly the smallest of the 4 parties represented in the Federal Council) gained a plurality of seats in the National Council and received (effective January 1 , 2004 ) a second seat in the Federal Council, reducing the share of the Christian Democratic party to 1 seat. ''See also:'' List Of Members Of The Swiss Federal Council , List Of Presidents Of The Swiss Confederation LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Switzerland has a Bicameral Parliament called the Federal Assembly , made up of:
The last elections to the National Council were held in 2003 , see Elections Of 2003 for more details. Most hearings in the parliament are open to everyone, including foreigners. POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS Switzerland has a rich party landscape. The four parties represented in the Federal Council are generally called the government parties: Free Democratic Party , Social Democratic Party , Christian Democratic Party , and Swiss People's Party . As of 2005 only the four government parties were represented in the Council of States. In the National Council the party landscape is more diverse with eight non-government parties having at least one seat. See Also: Swiss federal election, 2003 JUDICIAL BRANCH Switzerland has a Federal Supreme Court , with judges elected for six-year terms by the Federal Assembly POLITICAL CONDITIONS Although it has a diverse society, Switzerland has a stable government. Most voters support the government in the armed neutrality underlying its foreign and defense policies. Domestic policy poses some major problems, but the changing international environment has generated a significant reexamination of Swiss policy in key areas such as defense, neutrality, and immigration. Quadrennial national elections typically produce only marginal changes in party representation. In recent years, Switzerland has seen a gradual shift in the party landscape. The Rightist Swiss People's Party (SVP), traditionally the junior partner in the four-party Coalition Government , more than doubled its voting share from 11.0% in 1987 to 22.5% in 1999 , thus overtaking its three coalition partners. This shift in voting shares put a strain on the " Magic Formula ," the power-broking agreement of the four coalition parties. Since 1959 the seven-seat cabinet had comprised 2 Free Democrats, 2 Christian Democrats, 2 Social Democrats, and 1 Swiss People's Party, but in 2004 , the Swiss People's Party took one seat from the Christian Democrats. The Swiss Federal Constitution limits federal influence in the formulation of Domestic Policy and emphasizes the roles of Private Enterprise and Cantonal Government . However, the Confederation has been compelled to enlarge its policymaking powers in recent years to cope with national problems such as Education , Agriculture , Health , Energy , the Environment , Organized Crime , and Narcotics . The Index Of Perception Of Corruption puts Switzerland among the least Corrupt nations. In the 2005 survey, Switzerland ranks 7th (out of 158 surveyed), with 9.1 out of 10 possible points, representing an improvement of 0.4 points over the past four years. Together with seven other European nations, Switzerland leads the 2005 index on Freedom Of The Press published by Reporters Without Borders (with a score 0.5 points, zero being the perfect score). NOTES SEE ALSO
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