Editing Politics of Switzerland (section)

===Legislative branch===
[[File:Bundeshaus aus Luft.jpg|thumb|The [[Federal Palace of Switzerland|Federal Palace]], in [[Bern]], hosts the [[Federal Assembly (Switzerland)|Federal Assembly]] and the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]].]]
Switzerland has a [[Bicameralism|bicameral]] [[parliament]], the [[Federal Assembly (Switzerland)|Federal Assembly]], which is composed of:
* the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]] (46 seats, 2 seats per canton, except for six cantons which only have 1), also known as the upper chamber
* the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]] (200 seats, split between the cantons based on population), also known as the lower chamber
The Federal Assembly convenes to elect the members of the Federal Council.
The two chambers are equal (perfect bicameralism). This power-sharing system prevents monopolization of federal politics by more populated cantons to the detriment of smaller and rural cantons.

Members of both houses serve for 4 years and only serve as members of parliament part-time (so-called "Milizsystem" or [[Citizen legislature]]).<ref name="urlMiliz-Parlamentswissinfo.ch">{{cite web |url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/die-legislative-ist-ein-miliz-parlament/162442 |title=Die Legislative ist ein Miliz-Parlament - SWI swissinfo.ch |date=9 December 2009 |access-date=2016-12-13}}</ref>

====Political parties and elections====
{{Main|List of political parties in Switzerland|Elections in Switzerland|2023 Swiss federal election}}

Switzerland has a rich party landscape. The four parties represented in the Federal Council are generally called the government parties: [[The Liberals (Switzerland)|The Liberals]] (FDP/PLR), the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Social Democratic Party]] (SP/PS), [[The Centre (political party)|The Centre]] (DM/LC) and the [[Swiss People's Party]] (SVP/UDC).