2023 Swiss federal election

2023 Swiss federal election
Switzerland
← 2019 22 October 2023 2027 →
National Council

All 200 seats in the National Council
101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout46.6% (Increase1.5pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/–
Swiss People's Marco Chiesa 27.93 62 +9
Social Democrats C. Wermuth & M. Meyer 18.27 41 +2
FDP.The Liberals Thierry Burkart 14.25 28 −1
The Centre Gerhard Pfister 14.06 29 +1
Greens Balthasar Glättli 9.78 23 −5
Green Liberals Jürg Grossen 7.55 10 −6
Evangelical People's Lilian Studer 1.95 2 −1
Federal Democrats Daniel Frischknecht 1.23 2 +1
Ticino League A. Bignasca & B. Bignasca 0.55 1 0
Geneva Citizens' Ana Roch 0.51 2 +2
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Council of States

All 46 seats in the Council of States
24 seats needed for a majority
Party Seats +/–
The Centre 15 +2
FDP.The Liberals 11 −1
Social Democrats 9 0
Swiss People's 6 0
Greens 3 −2
Geneva Citizens' 1 +1
Green Liberals 1 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 22 October 2023 to elect all members of the National Council and Council of States. The elections were followed by elections to the Federal Council, Switzerland's government and collegial presidency, on 13 December.

The Swiss People's Party (SVP), which campaigned against migration, performed strongly, while Green and Green Liberal Parties saw their vote share decline.

Timeline

The election timeline is:

  • Mid-October 2022: Official information to the cantons and parties
  • 31 December 2022: Deadline for party registration
  • 1 March 2023: Publication of the candidacy deadlines for the National Council
  • 30 April: Landsgemeinde in Appenzell-Innerrhoden (Council of States election in the canton)
  • 1 May: Update of the party register
  • August: Candidacy deadline for the National Council in the cantons using proportional representation
  • September: Delivery of the electoral guide to the cantons
  • 4 September: Candidacy deadline for the cantons using majoritarian vote with possibility of walkover
  • Late September: Delivery of the voting material
  • 22 October: Election day (National Council & 1st round for the Council of States)
  • Late October: Publication of the official results
  • 12 November: Eventual runoffs for the Council of States in six cantons representing 12 seats (FR, GE, GR, TG, VD, VS)
  • 19 November: Eventual runoffs for the Council of States in ten cantons representing 19 seats (AG, BE, BL, GL, SG, SH, SO, TI, ZG, ZH)
  • 26 November: Eventual runoffs for the Council of States in six cantons representing 9 seats (AR, BS, LU, NW, SZ, UR)
  • 4 December: Opening of the new National Council and oath-taking
  • 13 December: Election of the Federal Council

Electoral system

National Council

The 200 members of the National Council are elected from the 26 cantons, each of which constitutes a constituency. In all multi-member cantons open-list proportional representation is used; with apparentments for allied parties and sub-apparentments for lists within parties, where apparented lists are initially counted together for seats allocation. Seats are allocated using the Hagenbach-Bischoff system with no threshold. Voters may cross out names on party lists or write names twice, split their vote between parties (a system known as panachage), or draw up their own list on a blank ballot. The six single-member cantons use first-past-the-post voting.

Seats in the National Council are apportioned to the cantons based on their respective population size (which includes children and resident foreigners who do not have the right to vote). Based on the official population count recorded at the end of 2020, Basel-Stadt lost a seat while Zürich gained one. Zürich is the canton with the most seats (36).

The rules regarding who can stand as a candidate and vote in elections to the National Council are uniform across the Confederation. Only Swiss citizens aged at least 18 can stand or vote and the citizens resident abroad can register to vote in the canton in which they last resided (or their canton of citizenship, otherwise) and be able to vote no matter how long since, or whether they ever have, lived in Switzerland.

Apportionment of National Council seats by canton in 2023
Canton Population Seats +/− Pop. by seat
 Zurich 1,553,423 36 +1 43,151
 Berne 1,043,132 24 ±0 43,464
 Lucerne 416,347 9 ±0 46,261
 Uri 36,819 1 ±0 36,819
 Schwyz 162,157 4 ±0 40,539
 Obwalden 38,108 1 ±0 38,108
 Nidwalden 43,520 1 ±0 43,520
 Glarus 40,851 1 ±0 40,851
 Zug 128,794 3 ±0 42,931
 Fribourg 325,496 7 ±0 46,499
 Solothurn 277,462 6 ±0 46,244
 Basel-Stadt 196,735 4 −1 49,184
 Basel-Landschaft 290,969 7 ±0 41,567
 Schaffhausen 83,107 2 ±0 41,554
 Appenzell Ausserrhoden 55,309 1 ±0 55,309
 Appenzell Innerrhoden 16,293 1 ±0 16,293
 St. Gallen 514,504 12 ±0 42,875
 Grisons 200,096 5 ±0 40,019
 Aargau 694,072 16 ±0 43,380
 Thurgau 282,909 6 ±0 47,152
 Ticino 350,986 8 ±0 43,873
 Vaud 814,762 19 ±0 42,882
 Valais 348,503 8 ±0 43,563
 Neuchâtel 175,894 4 ±0 43,974
 Geneva 506,343 12 ±0 42,195
 Jura 73,709 2 ±0 36,855
  Total 8,670,300 200 ±0 43,352

Council of States

The 46 members of the Council of States are elected in 20 two-seat constituencies (representing the 20 'full' cantons) and six single-member constituencies (representing the six half-cantons). Two 'full' cantons with small populations – Uri and Glarus – each have two seats in the Council of States but only one seat each in the much larger National Council.

Elections to the Council of States are regulated by the cantons. The cantons of Jura and Neuchâtel use proportional representation, while all the others use a majoritarian system, often with two rounds of voting. In the first round voters typically have up to two votes and candidates need an overall majority to be elected; if seats remain to be filled a runoff is held using simple plurality. All cantons, except Appenzell-Innerrhoden, which elects its state councilor during the Landsgemeinde in April, hold the first round concurrently with the National Council election, but the dates for the runoffs vary.

As each canton regulates its election to the Council of States, the rules regarding who can stand as a candidate and vote in these elections vary canton by canton. Jura and Neuchâtel allow certain foreign residents to vote, whilst Glarus allows 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. Swiss citizens abroad registered to vote in a canton are permitted to vote in that canton's Council of States election only if the canton's law allows it. Only Schaffhausen has compulsory voting, though limited in implementation by way of only an insignificant fine.

Apportionment of Council of States seats by canton
Seats Cantons
Cantons with 2 seats Zürich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Glaris, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva, Jura
Cantons with 1 seat ('half-cantons') Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Contesting parties

The table below lists contesting parties represented in the Federal Assembly before the election.

Name Political group Ideology Leader(s) 2019 result
Votes (%) National Council Council of States
SVP / UDC Swiss People's Party Swiss People's Party group (V) National conservatism
Right-wing populism
Marco Chiesa 25.6%
53 / 200
6 / 46
SP / PS Social Democratic Party Social Democratic group (S) Social democracy
Democratic socialism
Mattea Meyer & Cédric Wermuth 16.8%
39 / 200
9 / 46
FDP / PLR FDP.The Liberals FDP-Liberal group (RL) Liberalism
Conservative liberalism
Thierry Burkart 15.1%
29 / 200
12 / 46
DM / LC / AdC The Centre The Centre group (M-E) Centrism
Social conservatism
Gerhard Pfister 13.8%
28 / 200
13 / 46
GRÜNE / VERT-E-S Green Party Greens group (G) Green politics
Progressivism
Balthasar Glättli 13.2%
28 / 200
5 / 46
glp / pvl Green Liberal Party Green Liberal group (GL) Green liberalism Jürg Grossen 7.8%
16 / 200
0 / 46
EVP / PEV Evangelical People's Party The Centre group (M-E) Christian democracy
Social conservatism
Lilian Studer 2.1%
3 / 200
0 / 46
PdA / PST Swiss Party of Labour Greens group (G) Communism
Marxism
Gavriel Pinson 1,0%
1 / 200
0 / 46
solidaritéS Solidarity Greens group (G) Anti-capitalism
Trotskyism
Collective leadership
1 / 200
0 / 46
EDU/UDF Federal Democratic Union Swiss People's Party group (V) Christian right
Right-wing populism
Daniel Frischknecht 1.0%
1 / 200
0 / 46
LdT Ticino League Swiss People's Party group (V) Regionalism
Right-wing populism
Antonella Bignasca & Boris Bignasca 0.8%
1 / 200
0 / 46

Candidates

For this election, the Federal office of statistics reports a record in the number of candidacies. 5909 people (2408 women (41%) and 3501 men (59%)) in total, which is an increase of 1264 or 27% compared to last election, are candidates for the National Council on a total of 618 lists (an increase of 107).

Nearly a third (30%) of the candidates for the national council are younger than 30 years old. The average age is under 40 for the Greens and PS/SP, and it exceeds 50 for the smaller right-wing parties Ticino League and Geneva Citizens Movement.

Incumbents not standing for re-election

National Council

As of 8 April 2023, 25 National Council incumbents (an eighth of the council) announced they would not stand in this election.

Member Canton First elected Party
Pirmin Schwander Schwyz 2003 SVP/UDC
Walter Wobmann Solothurn 2003 SVP/UDC
Kurt Fluri Solothurn 2003 FDP/PLR
Christa Markwalder Berne 2003 FDP/PLR
Edith Graf-Litscher [de; fr] Thurgau 2005 SP/PS
Ida Glanzmann Lucerne 2006 DM/LC
Ada Marra Vaud 2007 SP/PS
Jacques Bourgeois Fribourg 2007 FDP/PLR
Doris Fiala Zürich 2007 FDP/PLR
Christian Lüscher Geneva 2007 FDP/PLR
Andreas Aebi Berne 2007 SVP/UDC
Yvette Estermann Lucerne 2007 SVP/UDC
Andrea Geissbühler Berne 2007 SVP/UDC
Jean-Pierre Grin-Hofmann Vaud 2007 SVP/UDC
Erich von Siebenthal Berne 2007 SVP/UDC
Martin Landolt Glarus 2009 DM/LC
Prisca Birrer-Heimo [de; fr] Lucerne 2010 SP/PS
Yvonne Feri Aargau 2011 SP/PS
Peter Keller Nidwalden 2011 SVP/UDC
Alois Gmür [de; fr] Schwyz 2011 DM/LC
Jean-Paul Gschwind [de; fr] Jura 2011 DM/LC
Verena Herzog Thurgau 2013 SVP/UDC
Roger Köppel Zürich 2015 SVP/UDC
Angelo Barrile Zürich 2015 SP/PS
Sandra Locher Benguerel Grisons 2019 SP/PS

Council of States

As of 8 April 2023, 9 Council of States incumbents (nearly a fifth of the council) announced they would not stand in this election.

Member Canton First elected Party
Alex Kuprecht Schwyz 2003 SVP/UDC
Roberto Zanetti Solothurn 2010 SP/PS
Hans Stöckli Berne 2011 SP/PS
Thomas Hefti Glarus 2014 FDP/PLR
Olivier Français Vaud 2015 FDP/PLR
Ruedi Noser Zürich 2015 FDP/PLR
Hansjörg Knecht Aargau 2019 SVP/UDC
Marina Carobbio Guscetti Ticino 2019 SP/PS
Adèle Thorens Goumaz Vaud 2019 Greens

Opinion polls

Graphical summary

The chart below depicts opinion polls conducted for the 2023 Swiss federal election; trendlines are local regressions (LOESS).

Local regression of polls conducted.

Nationwide polling since 2021

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size
SVP/
UDC
SP/
PS
FDP/
PLR
DM/
LC
Grüne/
Verts
GLP/
PVL
EVP/
PEV
EDU/
UDF
Others Lead
2023 election 22 Oct 2023 27.9 18.3 14.3 14.1 9.8 7.6 2.0 1.2 4.9 9.6
Sotomo 22 Sep5 Oct 2023 31,850 28.1 18.3 14.1 14.3 9.7 6.8 2.1 6.6 9.8
OpinionPlus 20–26 Sep 2023 1,623 28.8 17.8 14.0 14.1 10.4 7.2 2.2 1.1 4.6 11.0
LeeWas 19–20 Sep 2023 29,081 28.7 17.6 13.8 13.6 10.5 7.5 8.3 11.1
Sotomo 4–25 Aug 2023 40,889 27.6 17.3 14.6 14.8 10.7 7.3 2.1 5.6 10.3
LeeWas 10–11 Jul 2023 25,688 27.9 17.3 14.3 13.9 10.7 8.2 7.7 10.6
Sotomo 8–22 Jun 2023 25,216 27.1 17.8 14.6 14.3 10.2 8.3 2.1 5.5 9.3
Sotomo 20 Feb5 Mar 2023 27,058 26.6 17.8 15.6 13.3 10.7 8.3 2.1 5.6 8.8
LeeWas 15–17 Feb 2023 27,668 27.5 16.9 15.4 13.5 11.1 8.5 7.1 10.6
Sotomo 26 Sep7 Oct 2022 21,038 26.1 16.3 16.1 13.3 11.7 9.3 2.1 5.1 9.8
LeeWas 15–16 Aug 2022 26,298 25.9 16.2 16.4 13.4 11.8 9.2 7.1 9.5
LeeWas 8–9 Dec 2021 19,324 27.0 16.2 15.4 13.3 11.7 10.2 6.2 10.8
Sotomo 29 Sep3 Oct 2021 27,976 26.6 15.8 14.6 13.3 13.2 9.8 2.1 5.6 10.8
1 Jan 2021 CVP/PDC and BDP/PBD merge into DM/LC

Seat predictions

National Council

Firm Publication SVP/
UDC
SP/
PS
FDP/
PLR
Grüne/
Verts
DM/
LC
GLP/
PVL
EVP/
PEV
PST-Sol EDU/
UDF
Lega MCG Others Lead
2023 election 22 Oct 2023 62 41 28 23 29 10 2 0 2 1 2 0 21
NZZ 7 Oct 2023 56 42 31 23 30 11 2 1 2 1 1 14
Tamedia 23 Sep 2023 57 40 30 24 29 13 7 17
CH Media 2 Sep 2023 55 39 31 24 32 12 2 1 2 2 16
2019 election 20 Oct 2019 53 39 29 28 28 16 3 2 1 1 0 0 14

Council of States

Firm Publication DM/
LC
FDP/
PLR
SP/
PS
SVP/
UDC
Grüne/
Verts
GLP/
PVL
MCG Ind. Lead
2023 election 22 Oct19 Nov 2023 15 11 9 6 3 1 1 0 4
Tamedia 30 Sep 2023 14 15 6 6 4 1 1
SRG 20 Sep 2023 13–14 14–15 5–6 6–8 4–5 1 0–2
2019 election 20 Oct – 24 Nov 2019 13 12 9 6 5 1 1

Results

Results of the 2023 federal election
Results of the election by municipality
The party presidents on TV on election night

The SVP, which had campaigned heavily on opposing migration, performed strongly. The SVP made gains in Romandy, gaining for the first time more national councillors than the FDP in the region. The Centre notably gained seats, surpassing the FDP — putting the latter's second Federal Council seat in doubt — while the Green Party and Liberal Green Party performed poorly. The results indicated a stark divide between urban and rural areas. Although right-wing parties gained seats in the National Council, they did not secure a majority in the chamber. Despite the SVP's gains in the National Council, it did not perform as strongly in the Council of States, whereas The Centre gained seats. Neither the Left nor Right had a clear majority in the chamber.

National Council

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swiss People's Party713,47127.9362+9
Social Democratic Party466,71418.2741+2
The Liberals364,05314.2528−1
The Centre359,07514.0629+1
Green Party249,8919.7823−5
Green Liberal Party192,9447.5510−6
Evangelical People's Party49,8281.952−1
Federal Democratic Union31,5131.232+1
Swiss Party of Labour18,4350.720−1
Ticino League14,1600.5510
Geneva Citizens' Movement13,0190.512+2
Left-Alternative Greens4,3430.1700
Christian Social Party2,3970.0900
Swiss Democrats2,0300.0800
Other parties72,6092.8400
Total2,554,482100.00200
Registered voters/turnout46.6+1.5
Source: FSO

By canton

Canton SVP SP Centre FDP Greens GLP Others
% Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats
Aargau 35.5 7 16.4 3 12.0 2 13.1 2 7.1 1 8.5 1 7.5 0
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 47.7 1 15.9 0 35.7 0 0.7 0
Appenzell Innerrhoden 2.4 0 86.7 1 10.9 0
Basel-Landschaft 28.9 2 24.7 2 10.6 1 14.2 1 10.0 1 7.0 0 4.6 0
Basel-Stadt 13.6 0 31.8 1 5.8 0 17.2 1 17.1 1 9.1 1 5.2 0
Berne 30.9 8 20.7 5 8.1 2 7.5 1 10.8 3 10.5 3 11.3 2
Fribourg 25.8 2 20.6 1 19.9 2 13.3 1 11.8 1 3.7 0 4.9 0
Geneva 15.3 2 18.4 3 8.2 1 15.7 2 15.4 2 6.7 0 20.4 2
Glarus 42.6 1 23.4 0 31.2 0 2.8 0
Grisons 30.6 2 17.8 1 23.9 1 13.7 1 5.2 0 6.3 0 2.5 0
Jura 19.1 1 29.6 1 26.5 0 8.7 0 11.1 0 2.4 0 2.7 0
Lucerne 25.8 2 13.7 2 27.9 3 15.4 1 8.1 1 6.5 0 2.6 0
Neuchâtel 17.3 1 22.5 1 2.6 0 21.0 1 16.5 1 6.8 0 13.5 0
Nidwalden 39.9 0 45.3 1 14.8 0
Obwalden 52.3 1 47.7 0
Schaffhausen 39.1 1 27.4 1 2.6 0 12.2 0 4.8 0 6.8 0 7.2 0
Schwyz 35.9 2 10.9 0 17.6 1 19.6 1 2.7 0 3.3 0 10.0 0
Solothurn 28.7 2 17.2 1 17.9 1 17.4 1 9.3 1 6.0 0 3.5 0
St. Gallen 34.5 5 12.7 2 18.8 2 14.4 2 8.7 1 5.8 0 4.9 0
Thurgau 40.3 3 10.2 1 15.3 1 10.7 1 8.5 0 6.6 0 8.2 0
Ticino 15.1 2 12.5 1 17.7 1 21.1 2 9.1 1 1.5 0 23.0 1
Uri 35.3 0 62.4 1 2.3 0
Valais 24.5 2 14.3 1 35.4 3 14.7 1 8.4 1 2.0 0 0.7 0
Vaud 19.2 4 25.3 6 4.5 1 22.4 4 13.5 3 7.5 1 7.6 0
Zug 30.2 1 5.2 0 24.9 1 13.0 0 16.2 1 6.2 0 4.3 0
Zurich 27.4 10 21.1 8 8.1 3 12.5 5 9.9 4 12.4 4 8.6 2
Total 27.93 62 18.27 41 14.06 29 14.25 28 9.78 23 7.55 10 8.16 7
Source: FSO

Council of States

31 of the 46 seats of the Council of States were filled in the first round, with the remaining 15 seats filled in the second round on the 12 and 19 November.

Party Seats
1st
round
2nd
round
Total
The Centre 10 5 15
The Liberals 9 2 11
Social Democratic Party 5 4 9
Swiss People's Party 4 2 6
Green Party 3 3
Geneva Citizens' Movement 1 1
Green Liberal Party 1 1
Total 31 15 46
Source: FSO

By canton

Canton Centre FDP SP SVP Greens MCG GLP
Aargau 1 1
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 1
Appenzell Innerrhoden 1
Basel-Landschaft 1
Basel-Stadt 1
Berne 1 1
Fribourg 1 1
Geneva 1 1
Glarus 1 1
Grisons 1 1
Jura 1 1
Lucerne 1 1
Neuchâtel 1 1
Nidwalden 1
Obwalden 1
Schaffhausen 1 1
Schwyz 1 1
Solothurn 1 1
St. Gallen 1 1
Thurgau 1 1
Ticino 1 1
Uri 1 1
Valais 2
Vaud 1 1
Zug 1 1
Zurich 1 1
Total 15 11 9 6 3 1 1
Source: FSO

Electorate demographics

Demographic SVP SP FDP Centre Greens GLP
Total vote 27.9% 18.3% 14.3% 14.1% 9.8% 7.6%
Sex
Men 32% 14% 17% 14% 8% 8%
Women 24% 23% 12% 14% 12% 7%
Age
18–29 years old 23% 21% 11% 11% 16% 8%
30–45 years old 26% 18% 12% 14% 12% 8%
46–65 years old 31% 17% 14% 13% 9% 8%
Over 65 years old 28% 19% 19% 17% 5% 6%
Income
Under 4,000 CHF 31% 18% 10% 14% 11% 5%
4,000 - 6,000 CHF 24% 21% 14% 16% 10% 8%
6,001 – 10,000 CHF 27% 17% 18% 13% 10% 10%
Over 10,000 CHF 27% 11% 30% 11% 6% 11%
Education
Compulsory / VET 34% 17% 13% 15% 7% 6%
Matura / PET 26% 18% 15% 14% 11% 9%
University / Fachhochschule 12% 22% 16% 11% 18% 12%
Source: Sotomo

Aftermath

Following the election, SVP President Marco Chiesa stated his party had "a clear mandate" and would seek "less political correctness" and to work with the other parties. Although smaller right-wing parties gained enough seats to form their own parliamentary group, they opted to remain in the SVP group.

On 25 October, the Federal Statistical Office announced it had miscalculated the national vote count; this resulted from "a programming error in the data import software for the cantons of Appenzell Inner Rhodes, Appenzell Outer Rhodes and Glarus." The corrected vote count did not affect the allocation of seats, but found the FDP remained the third largest party by vote share as opposed to The Centre.

The federal elections were followed on 13 December by the 2023 Swiss Federal Council election.


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