Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland Oswald Sigg was named successor to Vice-Chancellor and Federal Council spokesman Achille Casanova. With Federal Chancellor Annemarie Huber-Hotz and the other Vice-Chancellorship conferred to Corina Casanova (no relationship to Achille Casanova), the three key roles in the Federal Chancellery were held by Swiss Germans. Remarkably enough, though, when Corinna Casanova was elected Federal Chancellor three years later, the nomination of Thomas Helbling as her successor, another Swiss German, raised no such public criticism. At the time, the "Tages-Anzeiger" speculated that this might be due to the Latin cantons aiming for the post of Oswald Sigg, due to retire a bit
2008 Swiss Federal Council election 2008 Swiss Federal Council election On 10 December 2008, the Swiss Federal Assembly elected Ueli Maurer as successor to Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid. Schmid resigned on 12 November 2008 after a number of controversies, officially citing health and personal reasons. Maurer took office on 1 January 2009. The Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), Switzerland's largest party by voter share but no longer represented in the Federal Council after the 2008 split-off of Schmid's Conservative Democratic Party (BDP), claimed Schmid's seat. The other governing parties including the BDP accepted the SVP's claim and declined to field candidates of their own. On 27