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 Council election Couchepin was elected President of the Swiss Confederation for 2008, and Hans-Rudolf Merz, instead of Blocher, was elected Vice President of the Federal Council for 2008. As a result of the non-election of their official candidate Christoph Blocher, the People's Party declared itself an opposition party and excluded its nominal representatives on the Federal Council, Samuel Schmid and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, from its parliamentary group. In the 2007 Swiss federal elections, the SVP expanded their share of votes again, mostly at the expense of the Social Democrats (SPS). Christoph Blocher, the "de facto" leader of the SVP, had become embroiled in