Executive power is exercised by the seven-member Federal Council, with each member elected by the bicameral Federal Assembly to four-year terms. The Federal Council represents a consensus-based coalition among most large parties in the Federal Assembly.

The presidency is largely ceremonial and rotates annually among the Federal Council’s members. In December 2023, Defense Minister Viola Amherd of the Center (Mitte) was selected to become president, with her term due to begin in January 2024.

The constitution provides for a Federal Assembly with two directly elected chambers: the 46-member Council of States (Ständerat), in which each canton has two members and each half-canton has one; and the 200-member National Council (Nationalrat), whose seats are apportioned among the cantons based on population. All lawmakers serve four-year terms. Switzerland’s electoral process is vibrant and pluralistic, garnering high levels of confidence from the public.

In the October 2023 elections, the right-wing SVP won 62 seats in the National Council, gaining 9 from the last parliament. The Social Democratic Party (SP) won 41, gaining 2. The Center won 29, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 28. The GPS won 23 seats, a net loss of 5, while the GLP won 10 seats, a net loss of 6. No other party won more than 10 seats. In the Council of States, the Center won 15 seats, the FDP 11, the SP 9, the SVP 6, and the GPS 3.

Swiss elections are free and fair, and the Election Commission, which administers them, is considered impartial.

As many as four days per year are allotted for the population to vote on referendums regarding political issues. Three issues were decided in a referendum in June 2023. Voters approved ballot measures to introduce a new tax for some multinational firms, introduce incentives to address climate change, and extend a COVID-19-related law.

Political parties are free to form and operate, and a wide range of parties are active at the federal and regional levels. The political system, while stable, remains open to new groups. In January 2021, the Christian Democratic People’s Party and the Conservative Democratic Party merged to form the Center.

Transparency International and other organizations have long criticized Swiss party financing and lobbying regulations for being opaque. In 2022, the Federal Council passed legislation requiring parties to disclose financing sources and campaign donations starting with the 2023 elections. The Federal Audit Office lists all donations from individuals and political organizations to parties and candidates on its website.

While most parties govern together by common agreement in the country’s consociational political system, they compete vigorously in elections and can gain or lose influence depending on their performance at the polls. Contentious policy issues are often decided in referendums.

The seven-seat Federal Council currently comprises two members each from the SP, the SVP, and FDP, and one member of the Center.

People’s political choices are generally free from domination by democratically unaccountable entities.

Restrictive citizenship laws tend to exclude immigrants from political participation. Noncitizens represent 26 percent of the Swiss population yet cannot vote in federal elections, including as many as 436,700 people born in Switzerland according to Federal Statistical Office data from 2022. On the local and canton level, noncitizens might have the right to vote, although canton-level rules differ in their level of inclusiveness.

The October 2023 elections brought a decline of women winning National Council seats. Women represented 38.5 percent of the house after the elections, down from 41.7 percent before. Switzerland was one of the last countries in the world to introduce women’s suffrage, doing so at the federal level only in 1971. At the cantonal level, women in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden were denied the right to vote until 1990.

People with disabilities and living under full guardianship have the automatic right to vote on local and cantonal matters in Geneva and can request the right to vote in Ticino and Vaud. However, Switzerland does not fully comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which it ratified in 2014.

Switzerland’s freely elected officials determine and implement national and local policy through a decentralized governance system. The 26 cantons have significant control over economic and social policy, with the federal government’s powers largely limited to foreign affairs and some economic matters. Extensively used referendums are mandatory for any federal constitutional amendments, the joining of international organizations, and major changes to federal laws.

Safeguards against corruption are generally effective.

A law to improve whistleblower protection was rejected twice by the National Council. Switzerland therefore does not fully implement the recommendations of the Anti-Bribery Convention of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, some cantons have implemented their own whistleblower protection laws.

The government is generally transparent in its operations. In recent years, an increasing number of cantonal governments have passed transparency laws making government data more accessible.

Following recommendations by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption, the Federal Council passed legislation in 2022 that requires political parties to disclose the sources of their party and campaign financing, starting with October 2023 polls.

The government is known to act without consultation on occasion. In March 2023, it facilitated the UBS Group’s acquisition of Credit Suisse without consultation from the parliament.

Press freedom is generally respected. Switzerland has an open media environment, though the state-owned, editorially independent Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG/SSR) dominates the market. Consolidation of newspaper ownership in the hands of large conglomerates has forced the closure of some smaller newspapers in recent years.

In 2020, the telecommunications committee of the Council of States voted to support a revision to Article 93 of the constitution that would impose regulations that already existed for radio and television outlets onto other, new forms of media. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticized the proposal, warning it would impact the freedom of those outlets. The amendment was rejected by the National Council in 2022.

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed, and the penal code prohibits discrimination against any religion. However, Muslims face legal and practical discrimination. The construction of new minarets and mosques is prohibited as the result of a 2009 referendum. Some cantons passed a ban on burqas. In 2021 Swiss voters narrowly approved a proposal to restrict their public use nationwide. The 2023 election campaign was marked by anti-Muslim rhetoric, especially by the SVP, which won a plurality of National Council seats.

Antisemitic incidents and hate crimes have increased. A report on antisemitism released by the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) in February 2023 recorded 863 cases of online hate, along with 57 offline incidents in 2022. Most of the incidents are linked with a strong increase in antisemitic conspiracy theories. After the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a massive terrorist incursion into Israeli territory in October 2023, antisemitic incidents rose sharply in Switzerland.

Academic freedom is largely respected.

Individuals are generally able to express their personal views on political issues without fear of retribution.

The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) was granted wider surveillance powers in 2017, allowing it to monitor internet usage, bug private property, and tap phone lines of suspected terrorists. A 2018 law required mobile and internet service providers to retain user data, including information on which websites users visited, for six months.

In May 2023, the Swiss justice minister signed on to a joint statement objecting to draft European Union (EU) regulations that would effectively mandate the providers of some communications services like WhatsApp to automatically detect child sexual abuse images. The draft regulations would also add additional related responsibilities onto member states.

Freedom of assembly is constitutionally guaranteed. After climate protests, including acts of vandalism and civil disobedience, were held in various cantons in recent years, Swiss courts have repeatedly convicted activists.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) generally operate without undue restrictions, though some groups face surveillance. In 2021 the FIS was revealed to have been monitoring Solidarity Without Borders, which advocates for the interests of migrants and asylum seekers, the NGO Public Eye, and leading Green politicians.

Workers are generally free to form trade unions and other professional organizations. The right to engage in collective bargaining and strikes is respected. However, Switzerland ranks among those countries with relatively weak job protection for unionized employees, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Swiss Trade Union Federation reports regular breaches of labor law including unlawful dismissal for union activity.

While the judiciary is largely independent in practice, judges are selected based on a system of proportional party, linguistic, and regional representation in the Federal Assembly.

Authorities generally observe legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. The constitution’s due process clause guarantees fair trial proceedings. The parliament and voters, in 2020 and 2021, respectively, approved a law allowing police to preventively detain and surveil individuals suspected of terrorist activities. Amnesty International heavily criticized the law, warning it could be employed against children as young as 12 and is vague in its definition of terrorism.

Switzerland is free from war and other major threats to physical security, though violent incidents do occur. Occasional instances of excessive force by police have been documented.

Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, or religion, anti-immigrant attitudes have grown in recent years. The rights of cultural, religious, and linguistic minorities are legally protected, but minority groups—especially Roma, Sinti, and non-White people—face societal discrimination.

Women generally enjoy equal rights, but face pay and workplace discrimination. According to government figures released in November 2023, the gender pay gap in 2021 was 17.7 percent, roughly 5 percent wider than the EU average.

Freedom of movement is respected, and there are no undue limitations on the ability to change one’s place of residence, employment, or education.

The rights to own property and operate private businesses remain unrestricted.

Personal social freedoms are protected for most people. Same-sex civil unions and marriages are allowed, and same-sex couples can adopt children. The right to easily update identity documents is enshrined in the civil code.

Labor regulations are generally enforced, but migrant workers are more vulnerable to exploitation. In 2021, Switzerland signed on to an ILO framework to combat forced labor, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labor.

No nationwide minimum wage exists. The cantons of Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Ticino, and the half-canton of Basel-Stadt do maintain minimum wages.

In the 2023 edition of its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department noted that Swiss authorities were working to expand their antitrafficking capacity, adopting a new national strategy document and providing more funding for antitrafficking efforts. However, the department reported that victims’ access to care was uneven and trafficking-related prosecutions were low.