National Council of Switzerland
The National Council of Switzerland is the large Chamber of the parliament and has 200 seats. Each canton is a constituency. The number of deputies of each constituency depends on the population of the canton. Zurich, which is the largest canton of Switzerland, has 34 seats. Uri, Glarus, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Appenzell Innerrhoden, on the other hand, each have only one seat. For cantons with more than one seat proportional representation is used.There are currently (2002) 47 women in the National Council (23.5%).
The National Council is elected by the Swiss citizens, as is most of the Swiss Council of States. There were 4.6 million citizens in 2002.
| Abbr | Canton | Number of Seats
|
|---|---|---|
| ZH | Zurich | 34 |
| BE | Berne | 26 |
| LU | Lucerne | 10 |
| UR | Uri | 1 |
| SZ | Schwyz | 4 |
| OW | Obwalden (Obwald) | 1 |
| NW | Nidwalden (Nidwald) | 1 |
| GL | Glarus | 1 |
| ZG | Zug | 3 |
| FR | Fribourg | 7 |
| SO | Solothurn | 7 |
| BS | Basel-City (Basle Town) | 5 |
| BL | Basel-Country (Basle Country) | 7 |
| SH | Schaffhausen | 2 |
| AR | Appenzell Outer Rhodes | 1 |
| AI | Appenzell Inner Rhodes | 1 |
| SG | St. Gallen (St. Gall) | 12 |
| GR | Graubünden (Grisons) | 5 |
| AG | Aargau (Argovia) | 15 |
| TG | Thurgau (Thurgovia) | 6 |
| TI | Ticino | 8 |
| VD | Vaud | 18 |
| VS | Valais | 7 |
| NE | Neuchâtel | 5 |
| GE | Geneva | 11 |
| JU | Jura | 2 |
See also: Presidents of the National Council of Switzerland.
