Editing Bern (section)

== Politics ==

=== Subdivisions ===
The municipality is administratively subdivided into six districts (''Stadtteile''), each of which consists of several quarters (''Quartiere'').

{{Districts and quarters of Bern}}

=== Government ===
[[File:Erlacherhof.jpg|thumb|Erlacherhof]]
[[File:Rathaus (Bern).jpg|thumb|right|Rathaus]]
{{See also|List of mayors of Bern}}
{{See also|Gemeinderat (Bern)}}

The Municipal Council (de: '''Gemeinderat''', fr: '''conseil municipal''') constitutes the [[executive (government)|executive]] government of the City of Bern and operates as a [[collegiate authority]]. It is composed of five councillors ({{langx|de|Gemeinderat/-rätin}}, {{langx|fr|conseiller/conseillère municipal(e)}}), each presiding over a directorate (de: ''Direktion'', fr: ''direction'') comprising several departments and bureaus. The president of the executive department acts as [[mayor]] (de: ''Stadtpräsident/-präsidentin'', fr: ''Le Maire''). In the mandate period (''Legislatur'') 2025–2028, the Municipal Council is presided by ''Stadtpräsidentin'' {{ill|Marieke Kruit|de}}. Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the City Council are carried by the Municipal Council. The regular election of the Municipal Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of Bern allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the Municipal Council. Contrary to most other municipalities, the executive government in Bern is selected by means of a system of [[Proportional representation|Proporz]]. The mayor is elected as such as well by public election while the heads of the other directorates are assigned by the collegiate. The executive body holds its meetings in the [[Junkerngasse|Erlacherhof]], built by architect [[Albrecht Stürler]] after 1747.

{{As of|2025}}, Bern's Municipal Council is made up of two representatives of the SP ([[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Social Democratic Party]]), and one each of GFL (''Grüne Freie Liste'' a.k.a. Green Free List), GB ([[Grünes Bündnis Bern|Green Alliance of Bern]]) and GLP ([[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|Green Liberal Party]]), giving the left parties a very strong majority of four out of five seats. The last regular election was held on 24 November 2024.<ref name="election">{{cite web |date=2024-11-24 |title=Drei neue Gemeinderatsmitglieder gewählt – Bisherige bestätigt |trans-title=Three new municipal council members elected – Incumbents confirmed |url=https://www.bern.ch/mediencenter/medienmitteilungen/aktuell_ptk/drei-neue-gemeinderatsmitglieder-gewaehlt-bisherige-bestaetigt |access-date=2025-02-01 |publisher=City of Bern |language=de |type=official site |location=Bern, Switzerland}}</ref><ref name="GR">{{cite web |date=2025-01-01 |title=Gemeinderat |url=https://www.bern.ch/politik-und-verwaltung/gemeinderat |access-date=2025-02-01 |publisher=City of Bern |language=de |type=official site |location=Bern, Switzerland}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|+ The Municipal Council (''Gemeinderat'') of Bern for the mandate period 2025-2028<ref name=GR/>
! Municipal Councillor<br/ >(''Gemeinderat/-rätin'') !! Party !! Head of Directorate (''Direktion'', since) of !! elected since
|-
| '''{{ill|Marieke Kruit|de}}'''<ref group=GR>Mayor (''Stadtpräsidentin'')</ref> || {{Color box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} SP || Mayor's Office (''Präsidialdirektion (PRD)'', 2025) || 2021
|-
| {{ill|Alec von Graffenried|de}}<ref group=GR>Vice-Mayor (''Vizepräsident'')</ref> || {{Color box|#39A642|border=darkgray}} GFL || Security, the Environment and Energy (''Direktion für Sicherheit, Umwelt und Energie (SUE)'', 2025) || 2017
|-
| {{ill|Ursina Anderegg|de}} || {{Color box|#84B414|border=darkgray}} GB || Education, Social Welfare and Sport (''Direktion für Bildung, Soziales und Sport (BSS)'', 2025) || 2025
|-
| [[Matthias Aebischer]] || {{Color box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} SP || Civil Engineering, Transport and Green Spaces (''Direktion für Tiefbau, Verkehr und Stadtgrün (TVS)'', 2025) || 2025
|-
| {{ill|Melanie Mettler|de}} || {{Color box|{{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} GLP || Finances, Personnel and IT (''Direktion für Finanzen, Personal und Informatik (FPI)'', 2025) || 2025
|}
{{reflist|group=GR}}

Dr. Claudia Mannhart is City Chronicler (''Stadtschreiberin'').<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bern.ch/politik-und-verwaltung/stadtverwaltung/sk |title=Stadtkanzlei |publisher=City of Bern |type=official site |language=de |access-date=2025-02-01}}</ref> She was elected by the Municipal Council in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |date=2021-01-28 |title=Claudia Mannhart als neue Stadtschreiberin gewählt |trans-title=Claudia Mannhart elected as the new city clerk |url=https://www.bern.ch/mediencenter/medienmitteilungen/aktuell_ptk/claudia-mannhart-als-neue-stadtschreiberin-gewaehlt |access-date=2025-02-01 |publisher=City of Bern |language=de |type=official site}}</ref>

=== Parliament ===
{{Pie chart
| thumb =right
| caption =The ''Stadtrat'' of Bern for the mandate period of 2021–2024:<ref name=SR/>
| other =
| label1 =PdA
| value1 ={{#expr: 1/(80/100) round 2}}
| color1 =Red
| label2 =AL
| value2 ={{#expr: 3/(80/100) round 2}}
| color2 ={{party color|Alternative Left}}
| label3 =GaP
| value3 ={{#expr: 1/(80/100) round 2}}
| color3 =#509F25
| label4 =JUSO
| value4 ={{#expr: 2/(80/100) round 2}}
| color4 ={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| label5 =SP/PS
| value5 ={{#expr: 21/(80/100) round 2}}
| color5 ={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| label6 =JA!
| value6 ={{#expr: 3/(80/100) round 2}}
| color6 =#FF8623
| label7 =GB
| value7 ={{#expr: 10/(80/100) round 2}}
| color7 =#84B414
| label8 =GFL
| value8 ={{#expr: 7/(80/100) round 2}}
| color8 =#39A642
| label9 =jglp
| value9 ={{#expr: 2/(80/100) round 2}}
| color9 ={{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}
| label10 =glp/pvl
| value10 ={{#expr: 9/(80/100) round 2}}
| color10 ={{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}
| label11 =EVP/PEV
| value11 ={{#expr: 2/(80/100) round 2}}
| color11 ={{party color|Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland}}
| label12 =CVP/PDC
| value12 ={{#expr: 2/(80/100) round 2}}
| color12 ={{party color|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}
| label13 =BDP/PBD
| value13 ={{#expr: 2/(80/100) round 2}}
| color13 ={{party color|Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| label14 =FDP/PLR
| value14 ={{#expr: 7/(80/100) round 2}}
| color14 ={{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}
| label15 =JF / DL
| value15 ={{#expr: 1/(80/100) round 2}}
| color15 ={{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}
| label16 =SVP/UDC
| value16 ={{#expr: 7/(80/100) round 2}}
| color16 ={{party color|Swiss People's Party}}
}}
The City Council (de: '''Stadtrat''', fr: '''Conseil de ville''') holds [[legislative power]]. It is made up of 80 members, with elections held every four years. The City Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by the Municipal Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of [[proportional representation]].

The sessions of the City Council are public. Unlike members of the Municipal Council, members of the City Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Bern allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the City Council. The parliament holds its meetings in the ''Stadthaus'' (Town Hall).

The last regular election of the City Council was held on 29 November 2020 for the mandate period ({{langx|de|Legislatur}}, {{langx|fr|la législature}}) from 2021 to 2024. The City Council consist of 23 (-1) members of the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Social Democratic Party (SP/PS)]] including two seats by the junior party ''JUSO'', 11 (+3) [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|Green Liberal Party (glp/pvl)]] including two member of its junior party ''jglp'', 10 (+1) [[Grünes Bündnis Bern|Green Alliance of Bern (GB)]], 8 (-1) [[FDP.The Liberals|The Liberals (FDP/PLR)]] including one seat by its junior partner ''JF / DL'', 7 (-2) [[Swiss People's Party|Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC)]], 7 (-1) ''Grüne Freie Liste (GFL)'' (Green Free List), 3 (+1) ''Junge Alternative (JA!)'' (or Young Alternatives), 3 (+1) [[Alternative Left|Alternative Linke Bern (AL)]], 2 (-1) [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD)]], 2 (-) [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC)]], 2 (-) [[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland|Evangelical People's Party (EVP/PEV)]], 1 (-) [[Swiss Party of Labour|Swiss Party of Labour (PdA)]], and 1 ''Grüne alternative Partei (GaP)'' (or Green alternative Party).<ref name=election/><ref name=SR>{{cite web |url=https://www.bern.ch/politik-und-verwaltung/stadtrat/mitglieder |title=Stadtrat; Mitglieder |publisher=Ratssekretariat des Stadtrats, Stadt Bern |type=official site |language=de |location=Bern, Switzerland |date=2021-01-01 |access-date=2022-08-01}}</ref>

=== National elections ===

==== National Council ====
In the [[2019 Swiss federal election|2019 federal election]] for the [[National Council (Switzerland)|Swiss National Council]] the most popular party was the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|PS]] which received 28.7% (-5.6) of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the [[Green Party of Switzerland|Green Party]] (25.2%, +7.9), the [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|pvl]] (13.5%, +4.1), the [[Swiss People's Party|UDC]] (9.5%, -2.9), [[FDP.The Liberals|PLR]] (4.2%, -2.8), and the [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|BDP/PBD]] (7.0%).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/9386461/appendix |title=NR - Ergebnisse Parteien (Gemeinden) (INT1) |format=CSV |editor=Swiss Federal Statistical Office, FSO |type=official statistics |publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office, FSO |via=opendata.swiss |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland |date=28 November 2019 |language=de, fr, it |access-date=18 May 2020 |archive-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811013939/https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/9386461/appendix |url-status=live }}</ref> In the federal election a total of 49,030 votes were cast, and the [[voter turnout]] was 56%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/9386463/appendix |title=NR - Wahlbeteiligung (Gemeinden) (INT1) |format=CSV |editor=Swiss Federal Statistical Office, FSO |type=official statistics |via=opendata.swiss |publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office, FSO |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland |date=28 November 2019 |language=de, fr, it |access-date=18 May 2020 |archive-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811014252/https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/9386463/appendix |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[2015 Swiss federal election|2015 federal election]] for the [[National Council (Switzerland)|Swiss National Council]] the most popular party was the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|PS]] which received 34.3% of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the [[Green Party of Switzerland|Green Party]] (17.4%), the [[Swiss People's Party|UDC]] (12.4%), and the [[FDP.The Liberals|FDP/PLR]] (9.9%), [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|glp/pvl]] (9.4%), and the [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|BDP/PBD]] (7.0%). In the federal election, a total of 48,556 voters were cast, and the [[voter turnout]] was 56.0%.<ref>{{cite web |date=4 March 2016 |title=Nationalratswahlen 2015: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung nach Gemeinden |trans-title=National Council Elections 2015: Party strength and voter turnout by municipalities |url=http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/17/02/blank/data/07/03.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802003536/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/17/02/blank/data/07/03.html |archive-date=2 August 2016 |access-date=3 August 2016 |publisher=Swiss Federal Statistical Office |language=de, fr |type=official statistics |format=XLS |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland}}</ref>

=== International relations ===

==== Twin and sister cities ====
The Municipal Council of the city of Bern decided against having twinned cities except for a temporary (during the [[UEFA Euro 2008]]) cooperation with the [[Austria]]n city [[Salzburg]].<ref>{{cite web |date=30 May 2006 |title=EURO 2008 – Partnerschaft von Stadt und Kanton Bern sowie mit Stadt und Land Salzburg |trans-title=EURO 2008 – Partnership between the City and Canton of Bern as well as with the City and Province of Salzburg |url=http://www.bern.ch/mediencenter/aktuell_ptk_sta/2006-05-salzburg?searchterm=partnerschaft |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070943/http://www.bern.ch/mediencenter/aktuell_ptk_sta/2006-05-salzburg?searchterm=partnerschaft |archive-date=7 April 2014 |access-date=6 April 2014 |website=bern.ch |publisher=Abteilung Kommunikation und Amt für Information, City of Bern |language=de |quote=…in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die Absicht bekundet, mittels einer zeitlich befristeten Partnerschaft zwischen den Städten und Ländern…}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130053840/http://www.bern.ch/stadtrat/sitzungen/termine/2008/08.000236/file |archive-date=30 November 2012 |title=Interpellation Fraktion SP/JUSO Andreas Flückiger/Markus Lüthi, SP): Das orange Wunder von Bern: Diese Freundschaft muss gepflegt werden! Was können wir tun? |url=http://www.bern.ch/stadtrat/sitzungen/termine/2008/08.000236/file |publisher=Der Gemeinderat (Municipal Council) |website=bern.ch |access-date=14 October 2014 |language=de |date=22 October 2008 |quote=Bisher hat die Stadt Bern bewusst auf eine Städtepartnerschaft verzichtet}}</ref>