page_title: 2019 Swiss federal election
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 Swiss federal election
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Schweizer Parlamentswahlen 2019: TV-Gespräch mit den Präsidentinnen und Präsidenten der 5 grössten Parteien im Bundeshaus. Français&#160;: Interview télévisée des présidents des cinq plus grands partis, le soir des élections fédérales, le 20 septembre 2019. Cette entretien réunit habituellement les quatre partis gouvernementaux (UDC, PLR, PS et PDC). En 2019, Les Verts deviennent le quatrième parti au Conseil national (dépassant le PDC) et leur présidente est invitée pour la première fois.
context_page_description: Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 20 October 2019 to elect all members of both houses of the Federal Assembly. This was followed by the 2019 election of the Swiss Federal Council, the federal executive, by the United Federal Assembly.
  In the 20 October elections, the two green parties, the Green Party of Switzerland and the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland, made major electoral gains, taking 13.2% and 7.8% of the vote respectively. As in the previous election, the Swiss People's Party received the most votes, but its share of votes went down to 25.6% from 29.4%.
  Initial media coverage interprets the 2019 election results as a "green wave" marking a leftward shift of the Swiss electorate on the political spectrum. It remains to be seen what effect the changes in the relative vote and seat shares will have on the composition of the Federal Council, or at least on the government's agenda and legislative initiatives, if there is no change in party representation in the executive branch.
context_section_description: Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 20 October 2019 to elect all members of both houses of the Federal Assembly. This was followed by the 2019 election of the Swiss Federal Council, the federal executive, by the United Federal Assembly.
  In the 20 October elections, the two green parties, the Green Party of Switzerland and the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland, made major electoral gains, taking 13.2% and 7.8% of the vote respectively. As in the previous election, the Swiss People's Party received the most votes, but its share of votes went down to 25.6% from 29.4%.
  Initial media coverage interprets the 2019 election results as a "green wave" marking a leftward shift of the Swiss electorate on the political spectrum. It remains to be seen what effect the changes in the relative vote and seat shares will have on the composition of the Federal Council, or at least on the government's agenda and legislative initiatives, if there is no change in party representation in the executive branch.
  In contrast to Germany and Austria, the Swiss federal government has for decades been composed of representatives of the four largest parties as a matter of political practice (rather than constitutional design), and has long operated on a consensus-seeking model characterized by accommodation of competing interest and viewpoints, rather than imposition of the will of the majority over the opposition.
  Switzerland's confederate structure and frequent initiatives and referendums pose additional constraints on what elected politicians are collectively able to accomplish. For these reasons, the strong electoral gains of the two green parties do not have the same implications for coalition-government formation as they do in Austria following the September 29, 2019 parliamentary elections there, in which the Greens obtained their best results ever with 13.9% of the vote and 26 seats in a slightly smaller lower house of parliament.
caption: TV interview with the leaders of the five biggest parties
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