Swiss Council of States 317001 218592923 2008-06-11T09:55:21Z Diegofrieden 422112 [[Image:Swiss Council of States Session Spectators.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A session of the Swiss Council of States, with spectators on the gallery.]] The '''Council of States''' of [[Switzerland]] ({{lang-de|Ständerat}}, {{lang-fr|Conseil des Etats}}, {{lang-it|Consiglio degli Stati}}, {{lang-rm|Cussegl dals Stadis}}) is the smaller chamber of the [[Federal Assembly of Switzerland]], and is considered the Assembly's [[upper house]]. There are 46 Councillors. Twenty of the country's [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]] send two Councillors each. The smaller cantons of [[Obwalden]], [[Nidwalden]], [[Basel-Stadt]], [[Basel-Landschaft]], [[Appenzell Ausserrhoden]] and [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] send one Councillor each. The latter six have traditionally been considered "half-cantons", because of their smaller size in area and in population, but in practice operate as full cantons. The Councillors serve for four years, and are not bound in their vote to instructions from the Cantonal authorities. Under the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]], the mode of election is left to the cantons, the proviso being that it must be a democratic method; however, all cantons now provide for the councillors to be chosen by popular election. In all Cantons except for [[Canton of Zug|Zug]] and [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]], the Councillors are elected concurrently with the members of the National Council. In the canton of [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] the representatives are elected by the physically convened popular assembly (''[[Landsgemeinde]]''). With the exception of the [[Canton of Jura]], where a proportional representation election system is used, the representatives are elected by majority vote. There are currently ([[2008]]) 10 women in the Council of States (22%). {{Politics of Switzerland}} ==List of members== *[[List of members of the Swiss Council of States]] *[[List of members of the Swiss Council of States (2003-2007)]] *[[List of Presidents of the Swiss Council of States]] ==Seats by party== {{Swiss Council of States election, 2007}} ==Population per seat== The Council of States represents the principle of [[federalism]] of the [[Swiss constitutional state]]: seats are distributed by state ([[cantons of Switzerland|canton]]), not by population. Consequently, the number of people represented by a single seat in the Council of State varies by a factor of 40, from 15,000 for [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] to 600,000 for [[canton of Zurich|Zurich]]. <table border=1 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 style="border-collapse: collapse"> <tr style="background:#efefef"><th>Abbr<th>[[Cantons of Switzerland|Canton]] <th>Seats <th>Population ¹<th>per seat<th>²&nbsp; <tr><th>ZH<td>[[Canton of Zurich|Zurich]] <td>2<td>1,228,600<td>614,300<td>1.0 <tr><th>BE<td>[[Canton of Bern|Bern]] <td>2<td>947,100<td>473,550<td>1.3 <tr><th>VD<td>[[Vaud]] <td>2<td>626,200<td>313,100<td>2.0 <tr><th>AG<td>[[Aargau]] <td>2<td>550,900<td>275,450<td>2.2 <tr><th>BL<td>[[Basel-Landschaft]] <td>1<td>261,400<td>261,400<td>2.4 <tr><th>SG<td>[[Canton of St. Gallen|St. Gallen]] <td>2<td>452,600<td>226,300<td>2.7 <tr><th>GE<td>[[Canton of Geneva|Geneva]] <td>2<td>414,300<td>207,150<td>3.0 <tr><th>BS<td>[[Basel-Stadt]] <td>1<td>186,700<td>186,700<td>3.3 <tr><th>LU<td>[[Canton of Lucerne|Lucerne]] <td>2<td>350,600<td>175,300<td>3.5 <tr><th>TI<td>[[Ticino]] <td>2<td>311,900<td>155,950<td>3.9 <tr><th>VS<td>[[Valais]] <td>2<td>278,200<td>139,100<td>4.4 <tr><th>SO<td>[[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]] <td>2<td>245,500<td>122,750<td>5.0 <tr><th>FR<td>[[Canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]] <td>2<td>239,100<td>119,550<td>5.1 <tr><th>TG<td>[[Thurgau]] <td>2<td>228,200<td>114,100<td>5.4 <tr><th>GR<td>[[Graubünden]] <td>2<td>185,700<td>92,850<td>6.6 <tr><th>NE<td>[[Canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]] <td>2<td>166,500<td>83,250<td>7.4 <tr><th>SZ<td>[[Canton of Schwyz|Schwyz]] <td>2<td>131,400<td>65,700<td>9.4 <tr><th>AR<td>[[Appenzell Ausserrhoden]] <td>1<td>53,200<td>53,200<td>11.5 <tr><th>ZG<td>[[Canton of Zug|Zug]] <td>2<td>100,900<td>50,450<td>12.2 <tr><th>NW<td>[[Nidwalden]] <td>1<td>38,600<td>38,600<td>15.9 <tr><th>SH<td>[[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]] <td>2<td>73,400<td>36,700<td>16.7 <tr><th>JU<td>[[Canton of Jura|Jura]] <td>2<td>69,100<td>34,550<td>17.8 <tr><th>OW<td>[[Obwalden]] <td>1<td>32,700<td>32,700<td>18.8 <tr><th>GL<td>[[Canton of Glarus|Glarus]] <td>2<td>38,300<td>19,150<td>32.1 <tr><th>UR<td>[[Canton of Uri|Uri]] <td>2<td>35,000<td>17,500<td>35.1 <tr><th>AI<td>[[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] <td>1<td>15,000<td>15,000<td>41.0 <tr style="background:#efefef"><th colspan=2>Overall <td>46<td>7,261,200<td>157,852<td>3.9 </table> Notes: ¹ Population data from [[Cantons of Switzerland]] (2001). ² Relative representation compared to Zürich. ==External links== {{Commons|Federal Palace of Switzerland}} *http://www.parliament.ch/e/homepage.htm [[Category:Parliament of Switzerland]] [[Category:National upper houses|Switzerland]] [[Category:Members of the Council of States of Switzerland| ]] [[als:Ständerat]] [[de:Ständerat]] [[eo:Kantona Konsilio]] [[fr:Conseil des États (Suisse)]] [[it:Consiglio degli Stati]] [[la:Consilium Civitatum]] [[nl:Kantonsraad]] [[pl:Rada Kantonów]] [[sr:Веће кантона (Швајцарска)]]