Aeschi bid puts regional balance in Swiss government back in focus

Thomas Aeschi could join Martin Pfister as the second member of Switzerland’s Federal Council from the canton of Zug, and both men come from the municipality of Baar. SRF reports that the SVP has yet to decide who will be put on its ticket to succeed Guy Parmelin.

Today, two Federal Council members from the same canton are allowed. Until 1999, a rule known as the cantonal clause limited each canton to one member, in an effort to prevent too much power from concentrating in individual cantons.

“As is often the case in Switzerland, the aim was to prevent a concentration of power,” said Sean Müller, a political scientist and federalism researcher at the University of Bern.

The rule could be sidestepped by changing a candidate’s legal residence. Ruth Dreifuss was living in Bern when she ran for the Federal Council in 1993, but the canton’s seat was already held by Adolf Ogi. She moved her legal residence back to Geneva and was elected as Switzerland’s second woman on the council.

Voters and cantons abolished the clause in 1999. Since then, regional balance has mattered more than the representation of individual cantons, Müller said. Other considerations include balancing urban and rural interests, gender and political parties. When the Swiss federal state was founded in 1848, only liberal men were elected, making candidates’ cantons of origin more significant. “Today, the cantonal question is one of many, but no longer the most important,” Müller said.

The first time two members from one canton served together after the rule ended was in 2004, when Zurich’s Christoph Blocher joined Moritz Leuenberger in the Federal Council. Their shared canton was not a major obstacle, Müller said, given Zurich’s size and the political differences between the SVP and SP. Zurich was represented by two council members again from 2009, when Ueli Maurer joined Leuenberger, who left office in October 2010.

Pfister and Aeschi both live in Baar, a municipality of about 25,000 people. Baar has prepared celebrations when Aeschi was put on the SVP ticket in 2015 and when Pfister was elected in 2025. Mayor Walter Lipp said the municipality would prepare another celebration if Aeschi is put on the ticket on November 20, and would send a delegation to Bern. The organisers still have the plans from Pfister’s celebration, but would adapt them to the season and make the event distinct.