2003 Swiss Federal Council election

Elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held on 10 December 2003 to elect all seven of Switzerland's Federal Council. The 246 members of the United Federal Assembly elect the seven members individually by an absolute majority of votes, with the members serving for four years, beginning on 1 January 2004, or until resigning.

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Six of the seven incumbents were running for re-election. Five were re-elected, but Ruth Metzler lost in her re-election bid: the first time an incumbent Federal Councillor had failed to be re-elected since 1872. In her place was elected Christoph Blocher of the Swiss People's Party (SVP). This ended the magic formula, by which the four largest parties had shared power on the Federal Council by a set formula since 1959; Metzler's Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) was reduced from two seats to one, and Blocher's SVP increased from one to two.

Results

Seat held by Moritz Leuenberger
Candidate Party Canton Round 1
Moritz Leuenberger SP Zürich 211
Others 23
Ballot papers distributed 246
Ballot papers returned 246
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 12 (1)
Valid votes 234

Seat held by Pascal Couchepin
Candidate Party Canton Round 1
Pascal Couchepin FDP Valais 178
Fulvio Pelli FDP Ticino 17
Fernand Cuche Greens Neuchâtel 10
Others 25
Ballot papers distributed 246
Ballot papers returned 246
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 16 (3)
Valid votes 230

Seat held by Ruth Metzler
Candidate Party Canton Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Christoph Blocher SVP Zürich 116 119 121
Ruth Metzler CVP Appenzell Innerrhoden 116 117 116
Others 8 5 0
Ballot papers distributed 246 246 246
Ballot papers returned 246 246 246
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 6 (2) 5 (3) 9 (4)
Valid votes 240 241 237

Seat held by Joseph Deiss
Candidate Party Canton Round 1
Joseph Deiss CVP Fribourg 138
Ruth Metzler CVP Appenzell Innerrhoden 96
Others 7
Ballot papers distributed 245
Ballot papers returned 245
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 4 (0)
Valid votes 241

Seat held by Samuel Schmid
Candidate Party Canton Round 1
Samuel Schmid SVP Bern 167
Ruth Genner Greens Zürich 13
Others 24
Ballot papers distributed 244
Ballot papers returned 244
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 40 (1)
Valid votes 204

Seat held by Micheline Calmy-Rey
Candidate Party Canton Round 1
Micheline Calmy-Rey SP Geneva 206
Others 20
Ballot papers distributed 244
Ballot papers returned 244
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 18 (1)
Valid votes 226

Vacant seat
Candidate Party Canton Round 1 Round 2
Hans-Rudolf Merz FDP Aargau 115 127
Christine Beerli FDP Bern 83 96
Franz Steinegger FDP Uri 16 N/A
Fulvio Pelli FDP Ticino 11 N/A
Others 16 16
Ballot papers distributed 246 244
Ballot papers returned 246 244
Invalid votes (of which spoiled) 5 (0) 5 (0)
Valid votes 241 239

Footnotes


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