Federal Chancellery of Switzerland 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 later. Whether founded or not, the appointment of André Simonazzi in 2009 did indeed restore the language balance. Federal Chancellery of
Federal Council (Switzerland) 2007 till 2010, when Simonetta Sommaruga was elected as the fourth woman in government in place of Moritz Leuenberger, putting men in minority for the first time in history. Also remarkable is the fact that the eighth non-voting member of government, the Chancellor, who sets the government agenda, was also a woman. In total, there have been seven female Councillors in the period 1989 to present: Until 1999, the Constitution mandated that no canton could have more than one representative on the Federal Council. Until 1987, the place of origin was used to determine which canton a Federal Councilor was