The National Council (; ; ; ) is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the upper house being the Council of States. With 200 seats, the National Council is the larger of the two houses.
Adult citizens elect the council's members, who are called National Councillors, for four year terms. These members are apportioned to the Swiss cantons in proportion to their population. Both houses meet in the Federal Palace of Switzerland in Bern.
Organisation
With 200 members, the National Council is the larger house of the Swiss legislature. It represents the people, the vote of each citizen having more or less the same weight, whereas the Council of States represents the cantons - each of them having the same weight, regardless of its population.
When the Swiss federation was founded in 1848, the number of seats was not yet fixed, and was thus determined by the population of the individual cantons. According to the provisions of the federal constitution at that time, a canton was to receive one National Council member for every 20,000 citizens. Thus, the first National Council, which met in 1848, had 111 members.
In 1963, the number of members was fixed at 200. The division of the seats between the individual cantons is determined by each canton's percentage of the national population, as revealed in the national census (including foreign residents), using the largest remainder method. A change in the division of the seats occurred in 2003, as a result of the 2000 census.
Every canton is entitled to at least one seat in the National Council.
Unlike the upper house where no translation is provided, simultaneous translation is provided into German, French, and Italian, but not Romansh.
Electoral system
Under the Swiss Federal Constitution, elections for the National Council are held every four years by the Swiss people. The most recent election took place on Sunday, 22 October 2023.
Since a popular initiative in 1918, elections have been by proportional representation, in which each canton forms an electoral district (Wahlkreis). There is no election threshold. Since 1971 women have been entitled to vote and stand in National Council elections.
Since the reform of the census system and the adoption of the use of government administrative data for determining the population in 2007, the distribution of the seats in the National Council between the cantons has been based on the permanent resident population (including residents who are not entitled to vote) in the year following the most recent federal election. There is a proviso that each canton is entitled to at least one seat.
The number of seats given to the cantons which are entitled to more than one seat is determined using the largest remainder method. Cantons which are only entitled to send one councillor to the National Council elect the candidate who wins a majority of votes.
The cantons use a unique system of proportional representation, sometimes called a "free list". Each citizen may cast as many votes as there are seats available to their constituency, and may even cast up to two votes for the same candidate. For every vote received by a candidate, that candidate's party also receives a vote. Voters also list a party vote, in which all blank candidate votes contribute towards the party's total. In elections, political parties publish lists in the cantons with their candidates. Each list contains at most the number of candidates which the canton is entitled to send to the National Council. In addition, each party can produce multiple lists to the canton (e.g. men's, women's, youth, or seniors' lists; in larger cantons they might offer lists for individual cities or districts). It is also possible for several parties to enter a single shared list. Voters may choose a pre-prepared party list without making changes or they can alter it by cumulative voting or panachage. Thus, the voter can give his vote to a specific candidate and ignore the rest of that candidate's party. Alternatively, it is possible for the voter to split his or her vote among several candidates from different parties.
The seats are then apportioned using the Hagenbach-Bischoff System. This system is unique in that it allows voters to split their vote across different parties, depending on which candidate the voter prefers.