2008 Swiss Federal Council election

none 2008 Swiss Federal Council election Switzerland presidential no 2007 Swiss Federal Council election 2007 2009 Swiss Federal Council election 2009 10 December 2008 150px Ueli Maurer Swiss People's Party 122 150px Hansjörg Walter Swiss People's Party 121 Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland Ueli Maurer Swiss People's Party On 10 December 2008, the Swiss Federal Assembly elected Ueli Maurer as successor to Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid. Schmid resigned on 12 November 2008 after a number of controversies, officially citing health and personal reasons.http://tagesschau.sf.tv/nachrichten/archiv/2008/11/12/schweiz/bundesrats_wahl_am_10_dezember Bundesrats-Wahl am 10. Dezember - Schweiz - Tagesschau - Schweizer Fe… https://archive.today/20120714233126/http://tagesschau.sf.tv/nachrichten/archiv/2008/11/12/schweiz/bundesrats_wahl_am_10_dezember 14 July 2012 dead Maurer took office on 1 January 2009. Candidates The Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), Switzerland's largest party by voter share but no longer represented in the Federal Council after the 2008 split-off of Schmid's Conservative Democratic Party (BDP), claimed Schmid's seat. The other governing parties including the BDP accepted the SVP's claim and declined to field candidates of their own.http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/schweiz/jetzt_werden_die_karten_neu_gemischt_1.1253915.html February 2022 On 27 November 2008, the SVP's parliamentary group decided to nominate former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher and former party president Ueli Maurer as candidates for Schmid's seat. Under new SVP party rules, any SVP member elected to the position without being nominated for it by the group would automatically lose his or her party membership. The opposition Green Party, citing their opposition to the SVP's policies and their representation on the Council, fielded State Councillor Luc Recordon as a candidate of their own.http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/politics/internal_affairs/Poll_shows_support_split_for_cabinet_nominees.html?siteSect=1511&sid=10003717 Poll shows support split for cabinet nominees 23 November 2008 Swissinfo 2008-11-27August 2026 InternetArchiveBot All governing parties declared Blocher to be unacceptable as Federal Councillor. The center-right Free Democrats (FDP/PRD) decided to support Maurer, while the center-left Social Democrats (SP/PS) announced that they would not elect him and were looking for an alternative SVP candidate. The centrist Christian Democrats (CVP/PDC) announced on 9 December 2008 that a narrow majority of their parliamentary group, 23 MPs, would vote for Maurerhttp://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/schweiz/maurer_wird_von_cvp-fraktion_knapp_unterstuetzt__1.1387307.htmlNovember 2018 InternetArchiveBot yes Results Prior to the first round, Hansjörg Walter, an SVP councillor from Thurgau who had previously been rumored to be the favorite of the center-left parties, announced that he would not accept an election. He nonetheless received 109 votes. Following the first round, SVP group leader Caspar Baader announced that Christoph Blocher's candidacy was withdrawn in favor of Ueli Maurer. Green Party candidate Luc Recordon, who did not receive more than ten votes in the first round, declared that he would "suspend" his candidacy. Ueli Maurer was elected Federal Councillor on the third ballot, receiving exactly the 122 votes required. Source:http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/v/4806/286975/d_v_4806_286975_286980.htm Official Bulletin of the Swiss Federal Assembly 10 December 2008 2008-12-10 2009-07-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20090713195622/http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/v/4806/286975/d_v_4806_286975_286980.htm dead Candidates Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 60px|Ueli Maurer Ueli Maurer 67 119 122 60px|Hansjörg Walter Hansjörg Walter 109 121 121 60px|Christoph Blocher Christoph Blocher 54 unknownCandidates receiving less than ten votes are listed as "other" in the official results. – 60px|Luc Recordon Luc Recordon unknown unknown – Other persons 11 2 0 Ballots cast 244 244 244 Invalid ballots 1 1 0 Blank ballots 2 1 1 Valid ballots 241 242 243 Absolute majority 121 122 122 Footnotes References http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/v/4806/286975/d_v_4806_286975_286980.htm Official Bulletin of the Swiss Federal Assembly 10 December 2008 2008-12-10 2009-07-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20090713195622/http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/v/4806/286975/d_v_4806_286975_286980.htm dead External links Politics Switzerland Federal Council election 2008 Federal Council election