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Comment by abc03

5 years ago

Firstly, a councillor is supported by a party. If you don't have the support of your party anymore, you are gone. Secondly, a federal councillar is "above" the party. You are representing first the federal council and not the party towards the public (i.e. a federal councillor represents the opinion of the federal council and not that one of his party).

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abc03

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exclipy  5 years ago

What stops the parties from forming coalitions?

  • m_mueller  5 years ago

    It's basically just an agreement among the larger parties to share the government, which has been upheld since its inception. In German it is called 'Konkordanz'. I think that direct democracy leads to this agreement being upheld since there is a general fear of any party going into the opposition - direct democratic votes make an opposition overly powerful, in some ways more powerful than governmental powers.

  • oblio  5 years ago

    I don't know about the Swiss system, but I do know a bit about coalitions.

    I'll assume you're American and are not familiar with them.

    Coalitions are much less stable than 2 party systems, which is great. Political positions don't ossify and get turned into sports and people rooting for their camp.

    Plus representation is in my opinion better since the big guys frequently have to accommodate the little guys just to get the majority.

    • exclipy  5 years ago

      I'm actually Australian but previously lived in Switzerland and currently in the US.

      Australia's political coalitions have been pretty stable despite instant run-off voting and not having any mention of political parties in the constitution.

      Politicians just gravitated towards forming parties and coalescing those parties into two sides because it was effective to do so.

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    • chadash  5 years ago

      >* Plus representation is in my opinion better since the big guys frequently have to accommodate the little guys just to get the majority.*

      This is a double edged sword. Saying “little guy” makes it sounds like it’s always a noble cause that doesn’t get enough attention. It can also be an openly racist party, or perhaps a wealthy special interest group that wants some special treatment.