President of the Confederation (Switzerland)
| President of the Swiss Confederation (German) Bundespräsident(in) der Eidgenossenschaft (French) Président(e) de la Confédération (Italian) Presidente della Confederazione (Romansh) President(a) da la Confederaziun |
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| Residence | Federal Palace |
| Term length | 1 year, not eligible for re-election immediately |
| Inaugural holder | Jonas Furrer |
| Formation | 21 November 1848 |
| Website | www.admin.ch |
The President of the Confederation (German: Bundespräsident(in) der Eidgenossenschaft, French: Président(e) de la Confédération, Italian: Presidente della Confederazione, Romansh: President(a) da la Confederaziun) is the presiding member of the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's executive. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the President of the Confederation chairs the meetings of the Federal Council and undertakes special representational duties. Primus inter pares, the President has no powers over and above the other six Councillors and continues to head her/his department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority and the previous year's Vice President becomes President.
As first among equals, the Federal Council member serving as President of the Confederation is not considered the Swiss head of state. Rather, the entire Federal Council is considered a collective head of state.
The constitutional provisions relating to the organisation of the Federal Government and Federal Administration are set out in section 1 of Chapter 3 of the Swiss Federal Constitution at articles 174 to 179. Article 176 specifically relates to the Presidency.
The Swiss President is not – as are, for example, the Presidents in Austria or Germany – the head of state of the country: under the Swiss Federal Constitution, the Federal Council doubles as a collective head of state and head of government. When a tied vote occurs in the council (which sometimes happens, because the six Federal Councillors who are not President vote first), the President – as the chair of the council – casts the deciding vote (or may abstain).
In addition to the control of his or her own Department, the President carries out some of the representative duties that are normally carried out by a single head of state in other democracies. At first this was only the case inside Switzerland, where the President (German: Président(e)) also often travels abroad; previously, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs handled most of those visits.
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