On December 10, Switzerland’s parliament elected Economics Minister Guy Parmelin as the country’s president for 2026. This annually rotating office is a Swiss peculiarity, found nowhere else in the world. So how exactly does it work? Any member of Switzerland’s seven-person executive body who goes to the federal parliament building on the relevant Wednesday in December and is elected president of the Swiss Confederation comes out basically unchanged: he or she has no extra powers, no rights to a presidential palace, no police escort. While the role of president of Switzerland does mean a busier schedule – and generally a celebration in the home canton – the incumbent has no greater say over the country’s affairs. He or she conducts the weekly meetings of the Federal Council, as the government’s executive body is called; represents the federal government at home and abroad; and has the honour of delivering the New Year’s address to the nation on television. Government decisions ...
