Swiss Council of States

The Council of States of Switzerland (German: Ständerat, French Conseil des Etats, Italian Consiglio degli Stati) is the upper house of the parliament (Senate) and has 46 seats.

20 cantons send two members, whereas the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-City, Basel-Country, Appenzell Outer Rhodes and Appenzell Inner Rhodes only one.

41 member of the Council of States are elected at the same time. The representatives of the cantons of Zug and Grisons are elected one year early. In the canton of Appenzell Inner Rhodes the representatives are elected by the general assembly (Landsgemeinde). With the exception of the Canton of Jura, the representatives are elected by majority vote. In the canton of Jura, a proportional representation election system is used.

There are currently (2002) 9 women in the Council of States (19.5%).

The Swiss Council of States, is elected by the Swiss citizens as is the National Council.

Number of seats and population

Abbr	Canton	Seats	Population ¹	per seat
ZH	Zurich	2	1'228'600	614300	1.0
BE	Berne	2	947100	473550	1.3
VD	Vaud	2	626200	313100	2.0
AG	Aargau	2	550900	275450	2.2
BL	Basel-Country	1	261400	261400	2.4
SG	St. Gallen	2	452600	226300	2.7
GE	Geneva	2	414300	207150	3.0
BS	Basel-City	1	186700	186700	3.3
LU	Lucerne	2	350600	175300	3.5
TI	Ticino	2	311900	155950	3.9
VS	Valais	2	278200	139100	4.4
SO	Solothurn	2	245500	122750	5.0
FR	Fribourg	2	239100	119550	5.1
TG	Thurgau	2	228200	114100	5.4
GR	Graubünden	2	185700	92850	6.6
NE	Neuchâtel	2	166500	83250	7.4
SZ	Schwyz	2	131400	65700	9.4
AR	Appenzell Outer Rhodes	1	53200	53200	11.5
ZG	Zug	2	100900	50450	12.2
NW	Nidwalden	1	38600	38600	15.9
SH	Schaffhausen	2	73400	36700	16.7
JU	Jura	2	69100	34550	17.8
OW	Obwalden	1	32700	32700	18.8
GL	Glarus	2	38300	19150	32.1
UR	Uri	2	35000	17500	35.1
AI	Appenzell Inner Rhodes	1	15000	15000	41.0
Overall		46	7'261'200	157852	3.9

Notes: ¹ Population data from Cantons of Switzerland (2001)

External link

• http://www.parliament.ch/e/homepage.htm

See also: Presidents of the Council of States