Current Government
Currently Switzerland exists as a complete democracy. Even though everything political is voted on by the people of Switzerland, there is still a government in place to maintain safety and to develop the laws and acts to be voted on. The Swiss government was based off of that in the United States. There is a legislative branch which consists of the National Council and the Council of States. The National Council is based off of the United States House of Representatives. The National Council consists of members from each Canton where representation is based upon the population of each Canton. The National Council has 200 members. The Council of States is based off of the United States Senate. The Council of States consists of two members from each Canton and one member from each Half-Canton. There are 46 members total in the Council of States. Both the National Council and Council of States discusses laws; however they discuss them separately from one another. Members of the bicameral parliament do not do this for a full time job and are not paid a great amount either. The executive branch of parliament is called the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat consists of seven members who are elected every four years. Of those seven, every year, one member is elected to be the President of Switzerland. There is no term limit to those who are in the Bundesrat. The Swiss parliament has existed like this since its independence; however minor changes were made to the Constitution on April 18, 1999.