Walter Thurnherr Energy and Communications in 2011 as her chief of staff. He stood for election to succeed Corina Casanova as Federal Chancellor of Switzerland on 9 December 2015, as the first unopposed candidate in ninety years, and was elected by the Swiss Federal Assembly with 230 votes (out of 234 possible). He assumed office on 1 January 2016. Walter Thurnherr Walter Thurnherr (born 11 July 1963) is the Federal Chancellor of Switzerland since 1 January 2016. Born in Muri, Thurnherr graduated as a physicist at the ETH Zürich. In 1989, he joined the ranks of Switzerland's diplomatic corps. In 2002, he
2007 Swiss federal election an earlier date. On 12 December 2007, the newly elected legislature elected the Swiss federal government, the Swiss Federal Council, for a four-year-term. The results reflected yet another rise in support for the strongest party, the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party, at 29% of the popular vote, and the growth of the Green and Green Liberal parties at the expense of the Social Democrats. The Swiss People's Party successfully came out of the election as the strongest party, rising another 2.3% to 29.0% of the popular vote. Among the left-wing parties, support of the Social Democrats eroded to the benefit