[Culturechat] CH Politics

[Vance Roy]

After the election of a new Bundesrat member (sort of like a sever 
person cabinet level position to which members of the CH Congress can 
be elected), the so-called "magic formula" has been preserved. this 
formula is based upon the ration that the different parties gain in 
elections to the upper house of the parliament. One of the Bundesrat 
rotates yearly as the titular president of CH. This certainly does not 
allow any "presidental mystique" to form, the poor president has a bit 
more work without a pay raise, as far as I can tell.

One needs to understand a quirk in CH politics; liberals are said to be 
on the "right", and conservatives are said to be "left". The opposite 
of the USA. There are four parties represented in the Bundesrat which 
serves as the executive branch of the government. The smallest of 
these, the Christian Democrats, still has two Bundesrat seats. This 
irritates The People's Party which only has one. This party is the most 
conservative and would compare to a far right Republican group in the 
USA. It is felt that it is only a matter of time until the far right 
gains another seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats (it does 
have more support among the populace than the Christian Democrats). A 
recent shuffle in each Bundesrat's departments has made it less likely 
that the far right will move into areas of responsibility such as 
economy, foreign policy, and interior. The newest Bundesrat is a 
grandmother from the French part of CH and as expected will be very 
much to the liberal side of things. The vice-president for the coming 
year will be a lady also. She will be the youngest VP ever, I believe. 
It is likely that she will succeed to the presidency in 2004.

Vance Roy
gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
http://homepage.mac.com/fredch