Viola Amherd named most popular Swiss minister in poll
Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Keystone / Anthony Anex
Defence Minister Viola Amherd is the most popular member of Switzerland’s seven-person Federal Council (executive body), according to a survey published on Monday.
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Viola Amherd è il ministro svizzero più popolare nel sondaggio
A survey of the general public by the Leewas Institute, commissioned by Tamedia/20Minuten newspapers, put Amherd ahead of Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, followed by Interior Minister Alain Berset.
The health minister, who also holds the rotating presidency role this year, was followed by Environment Minister Albert Rösti and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin. Foreign Ignazio Cassis and Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider came in sixth and seventh, respectively.
Only 49% of respondents want Alain Berset to be re-elected to the government after the federal elections in October, the survey found.
The Swiss seem divided over the future composition of the seven-person government, which is decided by a “magic formula”, whereby the seven cabinet seats are distributed among the largest political groups.
The survey found that only 19% of those questioned want to keep the current cabinet formation. A similar percentage would like the leftwing Greens to take a seat from the Social Democrats, while 17% would prefer the centre-right Liberal-Radicals to give up one of their two seats to the Greens.
Meanwhile, 59% say cooperation within the present cabinet is good and just over half (55%) are satisfied with the government’s work in general. This is five percentage points higher than last August.
A total of 27,668 people took part in the survey across Switzerland last month.
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