2022 Swiss Federal Council election

2022 Swiss Federal Council by-elections

← 2019 7 December 2022 2023 →
2 of the 7 Federal Councillors
Maurer's seat
Candidate Albert Rösti Hans-Ueli Vogt Party Swiss People's Swiss People's Electoral vote 131 98
Sommaruga's seat
Candidate Élisabeth Baume-Schneider Eva Herzog Daniel Jositsch Party Social Democrats Social Democrats Social Democrats 1st round 96 83 58 2nd round 112 105 28 3rd round 123 116 6

By-elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held on 7 December 2022, after federal councillors Ueli Maurer (SVP-ZH) and Simonetta Sommaruga (SP-BE) announced they would leave the Council effective 31 December of the same year. The parliament elected Albert Rösti and Élisabeth Baume-Schneider respectively to replace them.

Per an informal agreement between the political parties known as the magic formula, only SVP candidates stood for Maurer's seat and only SP candidates stood for Sommaruga's, ensuring the partisan balance would be retained. However, this election was characterized as an "upset" in the language balance as German-speaking councillors became a minority in the Council for the first time since 1919 as a result of Baume-Schneider's election; a regional imbalance between cities and rural areas was also noticed, while the gender balance remained identical. This election is the first time the canton of Jura is represented to the Federal Council, being the youngest canton in the confederation.^[1]

Alain Berset was elected President of the Swiss Confederation for the year 2023, as expected following the informal rotation agreement, but with a narrower margin than usual.