Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/474

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SWITZERLAND.

(Schweiz. — Suisse.)

Constitution and Government.

The republic of Switzerland, formerly a league of semi-inde- pendent states, or ' Staatenbund,' has become a united confederacy, or 1 Bundesstaat,' since the year 1848. The present constitution, product of a short civil war, bears date September 12, 1848. It vests the supreme legislative and executive authority in a parliament of two chambers, a ' Standerath,' or State Council, and a ' Nationalrath,' or National Council. The first is composed of forty-four members, chosen by the twenty-two cantons of the Confederation, two for each canton. The ' Nationalrath ' consists of 128 representatives of the Swiss people, chosen in direct election, at the rate of one deputy for every 20,000 souls. Thus, on the basis of the general census of 1860 — in force till the declaration of the census of 1870 — the can- tons are represented as follows in the National Council : —

Number of

Number of

Cantons

Represen-

Cantons

Represen-

tatives

tatives

Bern ....

23

Solothurn (Soleure).

3

Zurich

13

Appenzell — Exterior and

Vaud (Waadt).

11

Interior

3

Aareau

10

Glarus ....

2

St. Gall.

9

Schaffhausen.

2

Luzern

7

Schwyz ....

2

Tessin (Ticino)

6

Unterwald — Upper and

Fribourg.

5

Lower ....

2

Graubiinden (Grison

•

•5

Uri

1

Wallis (Valais)

5

Zug ....

1

Thurgau.

5

Basel — Town and Country

5

Total of representatives in "1 the National Council J

128

Geneve (Genf)

4

Neuchatel (Neuenburg).

4

A general election of representatives takes place every three years. Every citizen of the republic who has attained the age of twenty