Céline Amaudruz runs for the Federal Council

Céline Amaudruz, vice-president of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and National Councillor for the canton of Geneva, has decided to run for a seat on the Federal Council. She announced the decision on Thursday morning in Geneva, at a press conference.

With this announcement, Amaudruz becomes the first official candidate to succeed Guy Parmelin, the SVP member of the Federal Council who will leave government at the end of the year. The Federal Council, the seven-member national executive, will therefore see at least one new face by the end of 2026.

"Ho riflettuto a lungo sulla candidatura" (in English: "I thought about the candidacy for a long time"), said the party's vice-president, explaining that the decision came after lengthy consideration.

Amaudruz is 47. If elected, she would be the first woman to sit on the Federal Council for the SVP: the party has so far never had a woman in the national government. The Geneva politician is no newcomer to federal politics, however: she already sits in the National Council and holds the vice-presidency of her party.

In 2022, Amaudruz chose not to run when the SVP had to name a successor following Ueli Maurer's resignation.

Parmelin's succession

Parmelin announced his resignation from the Federal Council two weeks ago, effective at the end of the year. The Vaud-based federal councillor thus leaves open a seat that the SVP will have to keep filling.

Several names are already circulating for his succession, but Amaudruz remains for now the only publicly declared candidate. The election of the new federal councillor falls to the United Federal Assembly, the joint session of the National Council and the Council of States, which will be held on December 9 in Bern.

Before that date, parties will have to formally submit their candidacies: the deadline to do so is Friday, October 23, at noon. It remains to be seen how many other names, within or outside the SVP, will emerge in the coming weeks before the deadline.