Ruth Metzler

Ruth Metzler
Ruth Metzler
Vice President of Switzerland
	In office; 1 January 2003 – 31 December 2003
President	Pascal Couchepin
Preceded by	Pascal Couchepin
Succeeded by	Samuel Schmid
Head of the Department of Justice and Police
	In office; 1 May 1999 – 31 December 2003
Preceded by	Arnold Koller
Succeeded by	Christoph Blocher
Member of the Swiss Federal Council
	In office; 1 May 1999 – 31 December 2003
Preceded by	Arnold Koller
Succeeded by	Christoph Blocher
Personal details
Born	23 May 1964; Sursee, Switzerland
Political party	Christian Democratic People's Party
Spouse(s)	Lukas Metzler (m. 1991; div. 2010)[1] Stephan Zimmermann (m. 2015)[1]
Alma mater	University of Fribourg

Ruth Metzler (born Arnold, 23 May 1964) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC), she headed the Federal Department of Justice and Police.

Biography

Political career

Educated at the University of Fribourg, Metzler served as the cantonal executive in charge of finance in Appenzell Innerrhoden from 1996 to 1999.

She was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 11 March 1999, as a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party. Metzler took office at the Federal Department of Justice and Police the following 1 May, succeeding Arnold Koller; she won 14 referendums during her time in office. On 1 January 2003, she assumed the vice presidency of the Swiss Confederation.

On 10 December 2003, she became the third Federal Councillor not to be reelected in the history of the Swiss Federal State. In the 2003 Federal Assembly election, her party lost many voters and the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) became the largest party of Switzerland. The Swiss People's Party then requested another seat in the Federal Council. In the elections for the Federal Council on 10 December, the Federal Assembly did not reelect Metzler and elected Christoph Blocher instead, by 121 votes to 116 on the third round of voting. She challenged her CVP colleague Joseph Deiss for his seat, but lost by 138 to 96. Metzler kept her seat until the end of the year and Christoph Blocher succeeded her on 1 January 2004.

After politics

She published the memories of those years under the title "Grissini & Alpenbitter", 2004, ISBN 3-85882-388-0. She taught between February and July 2004 at the University of St. Gallen a class called "Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten in der Politik" which can be translated as "scope for design in politics". Since April 2005 she has been working for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.

References

"Sie sagte Ja zu ihrem Banker" [She said yes to her banker]. Blick (in German). 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2019.

External links

www.ruthmetzler.ch – personal website launched for the sale of her book
Profile of Ruth Metzler with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.
Franz Xaver Bischof: Ruth Metzler in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2007-11-27.

Political offices
Preceded by Arnold Koller	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1999–2003	Succeeded by Christoph Blocher
Preceded by Arnold Koller	Head of the Department of Justice and Police 1999–2003	Succeeded by Christoph Blocher
Preceded by Pascal Couchepin	Vice President of Switzerland 2003	Succeeded by Samuel Schmid

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[Blick-20180930-1] "Sie sagte Ja zu ihrem Banker" [She said yes to her banker]. Blick (in German). 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2019.