Maja Riniker and Andrea Caroni are the new presidents of the Federal Assembly
Published: Monday, Dec 2nd 2024, 19:30
Retour au fil d'actualité
Two members of the Free Democrats will lead the Federal Assembly over the next twelve months. Maja Riniker from the canton of Aargau was elected as the new President of the National Council on Monday at the start of the winter session of Parliament, while Andrea Caroni from Appenzell Ausserrhoden was elected as the new President of the Council of States.
The 46-year-old Riniker was elected with 170 out of 184 valid votes, which is an above-average result. The 44-year-old Caroni received 43 out of 44 valid votes, which is also a good result. They replace Eric Nussbaumer (SP/BL) in the National Council and Eva Herzog (SP/BS) in the Council of States.
The new first Vice-President of the National Council is Pierre-André Page (SVP) from Fribourg. He received 156 out of 161 valid votes and should take over the chairmanship of the large chamber from Riniker next year. The National Council is expected to be chaired by a member of the GLP for the first time in two years' time.
On Monday, the Council elected Katja Christ, a lawyer from Basel, as its second Vice-President with 115 out of 163 valid votes. Christ will be a National Councillor in 2019. 14 votes in the election of the second Vice-President went to GLP National Councillor Martin Bäumle (ZH), 34 others to various Council members.
In the Council of States, Stefan Engler, a centrist member of the Council of States from Graubünden, has been promoted from second vice president to vice president. Werner Salzmann (SVP/BE) is the new Second Vice-President.
Riniker: "Cohesion through diversity"
Maja Riniker is a business economist and has been a member of the National Council for five years, where she has made a name for herself as a security politician. She lives in Suhr near Aarau. Riniker has two daughters and a son with her husband, a doctor.
She is "a completely normal Swiss woman who has both feet on the ground" and who was "moved, proud and yet somewhat flabbergasted" after the election: the new President of the National Council addressed the Council for the first time after the election with these words.
The motto of the new President of the National Council is "Cohesion through diversity". According to Riniker, diversity and cohesion are interdependent. One is not possible in Switzerland without the other. Riniker's election was accompanied by music from the choir of the Alte Kantonsschule Aarau. The choir performed a medley consisting of four songs from all parts of the country.
Caroni emphasizes the importance of institutions
Andrea Caroni lives in Herisau and is a lawyer and lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. He has been a member of the Council of States since December 2015. Before Caroni became a member of the Council of States, he was a member of the National Council for four years.
In his first speech as President of the small chamber, the father of a daughter and a son emphasized the importance of institutions for progress. In order to unleash the power of progress in society, the economy and science, freedom and security are needed: "We obtain these through institutions of coexistence that keep us humans free from lack of freedom and threats from the enemies of enlightenment."
To celebrate his election, Caroni invited the Appenzell string band Alder to perform two pieces in the Council of States chamber. This quartet was joined by Zurich rapper Bligg and singer Deborah Merian.
©Keystone/SDA
French 
English 
German 
Spanish 
Arabic