Politics Nine-member Federal Council still not capable of winning a majority
Nine instead of seven members of the Federal Council - this old demand is still not capable of winning a majority. On Tuesday, the National Council rejected an increase in the size of the national government, and did so comparatively clearly.
10.03.2026, 12:56
SDA
On Tuesday, the large chamber voted against a parliamentary initiative by the Green parliamentary group by 114 votes to 77. In addition to the Greens, the SP, the GLP and the EPP representatives also voted in favor.
The No vote also means that the latest of many attempts to expand the government is off the table. The idea of nine members of the Federal Council has been a recurring theme in recent years. The Council of States last rejected a similar proposal in mid-2022.
The seven-member Federal Council works well, said Philippe Nantermod (FDP/VS) on behalf of the opposing majority in the National Council. The core argument of the opponents is that a Federal Council with nine members can hardly function as a collegial authority.
The opponents also argued that the stability of the political system would suffer if the size of the government had to be adjusted due to changes in the balance of political power. A government with more members and more departments would trigger a surge in bureaucracy, said Gregor Rutz (SVP/ZH).
Those in favor, on the other hand, felt that the various political forces, regions of the country and language regions could be better integrated into the government. The Federal Council has had seven members since 1848, said Greta Gysin (Greens/TI). However, a lot has changed since then.
The dossiers have become more complex, Switzerland's international interdependencies have become more numerous and the population and economy have grown. With nine members of government, the greater diversity and representation of regions and languages can also be better taken into account.
Proponents also felt that the workload of government members had increased. Balthasar Glättli (Greens/ZH) added that approaches involving additional state secretaries were unfortunately not acceptable to the majority.
The National Council also said no to a second government reform proposed by the Greens, which aimed to enable job sharing in the Federal Council. The majority considered it unrealistic for federal councillors to be able to perform their function in a job-sharing arrangement. The tenor was that leadership and responsibility at this level could not be shared.
Aline Trede (Greens/BE) argued in vain that the Federal Council was too old compared to the average age of the population. The lack of compatibility between office and family discouraged many from running for the Federal Council. The search for a successor to Viola Amherd had shown this.
