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
Chancellor of Germany is the country's effective leader, although in formal protocol, the "Bundespräsident" and "Bundestagspräsident" are ranked higher. In German politics, the chancellor is the equivalent of a prime minister in many other countries. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag. The current, official title in German is "Bundeskanzler(in)", which means "federal chancellor", and is sometimes shortened to "Kanzler(in)". The 8th and current chancellor is Angela Merkel, who is serving her fourth term in office. She is the first female chancellor. The title of Chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the Holy Roman Empire, when the office of German archchancellor