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Unit 7: Constitutional Structure: Executive

plural presidency. It has seven members (ministers) and all of them are designated as the Notes
‘Presidents’. The salaries, allowances and powers of all the Presidents are equal.
• Not more than one President can belong to the same canton, while the cantons of Zurich, Berne
and Vaud are invariably represented. Not only this, not more than two presidents should belong
to the same political party. Hence, it is always like a coalition government. The whole
arrangement is unique and, as Lord Bryce says, it “deserves best study”.
• One of the Councillors is designated as the President and the other as the Vice-President by the
Federal Assembly for one year. According to an established practice, this is done on the basis of
seniority and the office rotates among the seven Councillors. A new member of the Council
serves beneath all his seniors and the retiring President goes to the bottom of the list.
• The President of the Federal Council is also known as the President of the Swiss Confederation.
But the designation of the presidency is a matter of courtesy. The Swiss executive is plural or
collegial which automatically implies that it has no single head. The Swiss President is neither
the primus inter pares, nor the party boss, nor the chief administrator. After the expiry of his one
year term, he becomes one like others and during the term as well, he acts like a chairman
having formal precedence over others. He receives salary equal to his other colleagues except a
small remuneration for meeting the cost of official entertainments; he gets no palatial residence
or special transport, nor is there any grandeur of his high office.
• The Swiss President neither reigns nor governs, he is given the position of formal precedence
over his colleagues for the simple reason that there are certain ceremonial functions which
cannot be performed simultaneously by persons more than one. He appoints ambassadors,
receives and sees off foreign guests, represents the Confederation at home and abroad, and to a
limited extent, possesses emergency powers.
• The Federal Council is the executive arm of the federal government. It conducts the affairs of
the Confederation in accordance with federal laws and decrees. It must ensure due observance
of the Constitution, the laws and decrees of the Confederation and federal treaties.
• In the legislative sphere, the Federal Council submits projects of laws and arêtes to the Federal
Assembly and gives its preliminary advice upon projects which the cantons or Councillors may
send up to it. The usual procedure is that the Federal Council submits a message or report
accompanied by a draft embodying the action which Federal Council wishes the Federal
Assembly to take.
• The Swiss executive is plural or collegial. It means that it has no single head. The President
enjoys nothing but a formal precedence over his colleagues and after a period of one year
retires according to the principle of rotation by seniority
• The Swiss executive does not correspond to the type of British cabinet. It is true that, like the
British cabinet, it is the child of the legislature, and its members take part in the deliberations of
the Federal Assembly, the Swiss executive is quite different. Its members are not picked up by
a single leader ; they cannot enjoy the membership of the legislature after being so chosen, their
total number is fixed ; they belong to different political parties and thus reveal unity in diversity;
above all, they are not individually or collectively responsible to the legislature
• The Swiss executive is virtually a non-partisan body. The members of the Council are not chosen
from the party having majority in the lower house of the national legislature. Rather they are a
heterogeneous group of politicians belonging to different major parties who are chosen in view
of their capability of administration. The party lines are not so rigid and it is administrative
skill, mental grasp, good sense, tact and temperament by which the case of a particular candidate
is adjudged.
7.4 Key-Words

1. Monarchy : It is a form of government in which sovereignty is actually nominally
embodied in a single individual.
2. Plural executives : A title of a chief officer or administrator especially one who can make
significant decisions on her/his own authority.

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