List of presidents of the National Council of Switzerland

This article is about the Lower House of the Swiss Assembly. For the Upper House, see List of presidents of the Swiss Council of States. For the Executive, see List of presidents of the Swiss Confederation.

The President of the National Council of Switzerland (German: Nationalratspräsident; French: Président du Conseil national, Italian: Presidente del Consiglio nazionale; Romansh: President dal cussegl naziunal) presides over the National Council and Federal Assembly. The National Council President is often colloquially referred to as the "highest Swiss person" (German: der Höchste Schweizer), as the highest ranking person subject to the people's vote.^[1] However, this is an honorary title and the president is not the head of state; the head of state is the entire Federal Council. In the official order of precedence, she or he ranks behind the members of the Federal Council, but ahead of the President of the Swiss Council of States.^[2]

The President of the National Council also chairs the United Federal Assembly which meets to set elections, decides conflicts of jurisdiction between federal authorities and issues pardons.^[2] The officeholder is elected by the National Council for a term of one year without the possibility and may not be elected for a second consecutive term, but may be elected to the post in the future.

List of presidents of the National Council

Year	Name	Canton
1848	Ulrich Ochsenbein	BE
1848–49	Jakob Robert Steiger	LU
1849–50	Alfred Escher	ZH
1850–51	Johann Konrad Kern	TG
1851	Jakob Stämpfli	BE
1851–52	Johann Trog	SO
1852–53	Johann M. Hungerbühler	SG
1853–54	Giovanni Battista Pioda	TI
1854	Jakob Dubs	ZH
1854–55	Casimir Pfyffer	LU
1855–56	Eduard Eugen Blösch	BE
1856	Friedrich Siegfried	AG
1856	Jules Martin	VD
1856–57	Alfred Escher	ZH
1857	Paul Migy	BE
1857–58	Augustin Keller	AG
1858–59	Johann Jakob Stehlin	BS
1859–60	Friedrich Peyer im Hof	SH
1860	Johann Baptist Weder	SG
1860–61	Eduard Dapples	VD
1861–62	Karl Karrer	BE
1862–63	Alfred Escher	ZH
1863	Joachim Heer	GL
1863–64	Victor Ruffy	VD
1864–65	Gottlieb Jäger	AG
1865–66	Andreas Rudolf von Planta	GR
1866	Niklaus Niggeler	BE
1866–67	Jules Philippin	NE
1867–68	Johann Jakob Stehlin	BS
1868–69	Simon Kaiser	SO
1869	Louis Ruchonnet	VD
1869–70	Joachim Heer	GL
1870–71	Fridolin Anderwert	TG
1871–72	Rudolf Brunner	BE
1872	Charles Friderich	GE
1872–73	Daniel Wirth-Sand	SG
1873–74	Gottlieb Ziegler	ZH
1874	Carl Feer-Herzog	AG
1874–75	Louis Ruchonnet	VD
1875	Jakob Stämpfli	BE
1875–76	Emil Frey	BL
1876–77	Arnold Otto Aepli	SG
1877–78	Eduard Marti	BE
1878	Jules Philippin	NE
1878–79	Melchior Römer	ZH
1879–80	Arnold Künzli	AG
1880–81	Karl Burckhardt	BS
1881	Antoine Vessaz	VD
1881/82	Karl Zyro	BE
1882–83	Adolf Deucher	TG
1883–84	Simon Kaiser	SO
1884	Georges Favon	GE
1884–85	Johannes Stössel	ZH
1885–86	Andrea Bezzola	GR
1886–87	Henri Morel	NE
1887	Josef Zemp	LU
1887–88	Erwin Kurz	AG
1888–89	Eugène Ruffy	VD
1889–90	Heinrich Häberlin	TG
1890	August Suter	SG
1890–91	Eduard Müller	BE
1891–92	Adrien Lachenal	GE
1892–93	Albert Brosi	SO
1893	Ludwig Forrer	ZH
1893–94	Robert Comtesse	NE
1894–95	Ernst Brenner	BS
1895–96	Jakob Huldreich Bachmann	TG
1896	Joseph Stockmar	BE
1896	Rudolf Gallati	GL
1896–97	Johann Josef Keel	SG
1897–98	Robert Grieshaber	SH
1898–99	Adrien Thélin	VD
1899	Hermann Heller	LU
1899–1900	Rudolf Geilinger	ZH
1900–01	Fritz Bühlmann	BE
1901–02	Gustave Ador	GE
1902	Ulrich Meister	ZH
1902	Clemens Iten	ZG
1902–03	Konrad Zschokke	AG
1903–04	Louis Martin	NE
1904–05	Josef Anton Schobinger	LU
1905–06	Johann Hirter	BE
1906–07	Camille Decoppet	VD
1907–08	Paul Speiser	BS
1908–09	Adolf Germann	TG
1909–10	Virgile Rossel	BE
1910–11	Josef Kuntschen	VS
1911–12	Karl Emil Wild	SG
1912–13	Carl Spahn	SH
1913–14	Alfred von Planta	GR
1914–15	Felix Bonjour	VD
1915–16	Arthur Eugster	AR
1916–17	Anton Büeler	SZ
1917–18	Henri Calame	NE
1918–19	Heinrich Häberlin	TG
1919–20	Eduard Blumer	GL
1920–21	Evaristo Garbani-Nerini	TI
1921–22	Emil Klöti	ZH
1922–23	Johann Jenny	BE
1923–24	Raymond Evéquoz	VS
1924–25	Albert Mächler	SG
1925–26	Emil Hofmann	TG
1926–27	Paul Maillefer	VD
1927–28	Rudolf Minger	BE
1928–29	Heinrich Walther	LU
1929–30	Ernest-Paul Graber	NE
1930–31	Hans Sträuli	ZH
1931–32	Heinrich Roman Abt	AG
1932–33	Ruggero Dollfus	TI
1933–34	Johannes Huber	SG
1934–35	Hermann Schüpbach	BE
1935–36	Rudolf Reichling	ZH
1936–37	Maurice Troillet	VS
1937–38	Fritz Hauser	BS
1938–39	Henry Vallotton	VD
1939–40	Hans Stähli	BE
1940–41	Emil Nietlispach	AG
1941–42	Charles Rosselet	GE
1942–43	Emil Keller	AG
1943–44	Paul Gysler	ZH
1944–45	Pierre Aeby	FR
1945–46	Robert Grimm	BE
1946–47	Max Wey	LU
1947–48	Albert Picot	GE
1948–49	Josef Escher	VS
1949–50	Jacques Schmid	SO
1950–51	Aleardo Pini	TI
1951–52	Karl Renold	AG
1952–53	Thomas Holenstein	SG
1953–54	Henri Perret	NE
1954–55	Hermann Häberlin	ZH
1955–56	Paul Burgdorfer	BE
1956–57	Joseph Condrau	GR
1957–58	Robert Bratschi	BE
1958–59	Eugen Dietschi	BS
1959–60	Gaston Clottu	NE
1960–61	Emil Duft	ZH
1961–62	Walther Bringolf	SH
1962–63	André Guinand	GE
1963–64	Otto Hess	TG
1964–65	Franz Josef Kurmann	LU
1965–66	Pierre Graber	VD
1966–67	Alfred Schaller	BS
1967–68	Hans Conzett	ZH
1968–69	Max Aebischer	FR
1969–70	Mathias Eggenberger	SG
1970–71	Alfred Weber	UR
1971–72	William Vontobel	ZH
1972–73	Enrico Franzoni	TI
1973–74	Anton Muheim	LU
1974–75	Simon Kohler	BE
1975–76	Rudolf Etter	BE
1976–77	Hans Wyer	VS
1977	Elisabeth Blunschy	SZ
1977–78	Alfred Bussey	VD
1978–79	Luigi Generali	TI
1979–80	Hanspeter Fischer	TG
1980–81	Laurent Butty	FR
1981–82	Hedi Lang	ZH
1982–83	Franz Eng	SO
1983–84	André Gautier	GE
1984–85	Arnold Koller	AI
1985–86	Martin Bundi	GR
1986–87	Jean-Jacques Cevey	VD
1987–88	Rudolf Reichling	ZH
1988–89	Josef Iten	NW
1989–90	Victor Ruffy	VD
1990–91	Ulrich Bremi	ZH
1991–92	Hans-Rudolf Nebiker	BL
1992–93	Paul Schmidhalter	VS
1993–94	Gret Haller	BE
1994–95	Claude Frey	NE
1995–96	Jean-François Leuba	VD
1996–97	Judith Stamm	LU
1997–98	Ernst Leuenberger	SO
1998–99	Trix Heberlein	ZH
1999–2000	Hanspeter Seiler	BE
2000–01	Peter Hess	ZG
2001–02	Liliane Maury Pasquier	GE
2002–03	Yves Christen	VD
2003–04	Max Binder	ZH
2004–05 ²	Jean-Philippe Maitre	GE
2005	Thérèse Meyer	FR
2005–06	Claude Janiak	BL
2006–07	Christine Egerszegi	AG
2007–08	André Bugnon	VD
2008–09	Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi	TI
2009–10	Pascale Bruderer	AG
2010–11	Jean-René Germanier	VS
2011–12	Hansjörg Walter	TG
2012–13	Maya Graf	BL
2013–14	Ruedi Lustenberger	LU
2014–15	Stéphane Rossini	VS
2015–16	Christa Markwalder	BE
2016–17	Jürg Stahl	ZH
2017–18	Dominique de Buman	FR
2018–19	Marina Carobbio Guscetti	TI
2019–20	Isabelle Moret	VD
2020–21	Andreas Aebi	BE
2021–22	Irène Kälin	AG
2022–23	Martin Candinas	GR
2023–24	Eric Nussbaumer	BL
2024–25	Maja Riniker	AG

² resigned per 1 March 2005

Statistics by canton

These counts by canton do not take in account the varying number of members of the National Council per canton (in 2005: 1-34 members).

Presidencies	Cantons
28	Bern
23	Zürich
20	Vaud
15	Aargau
12	St. Gallen
10	Geneva, Neuchâtel, Thurgau
9	Lucerne
8	Basel-Stadt
7	Solothurn, Ticino, Valais
6	Grisons
4	Freiburg, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Basel-Landschaft
3
2	Schwyz, Zug
1	Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Nidwalden, Uri
0	Jura, Obwalden

See also

• National Council (Switzerland)
• Presidents of the Council of States
• Presidents of the Confederation
• Members of the Swiss National Council

References

1. "Die wirklich Wichtigen und Mächtigen der Schweiz". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 2013-12-23.
2. "Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation". Confederation of Switzerland. Retrieved 2020-08-06.

External links

• The presidents (speakers) of the National Council and the Council of States
• Presidents of the National Council since 1848
• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (DHS)