The Federal Councillors are elected by the Federal Assembly. Elections are held every four years in December, shortly after elections to the Federal Assembly.

Procedure:

Any Swiss citizen with the right to vote is eligible to stand for election to the Federal Council, and does not necessarily have to be an official candidate to be elected. The Federal Councillors are elected in separate ballots. After that the President of the Swiss Confederation and the Vice-President of the Federal Council are elected as well, in a new ballot. The Federal Councillors standing for election are voted for in order of their length of time in office.

The election takes place as follows:

• The Federal Assembly votes by secret ballot in a number of rounds.
• Any eligible person can receive votes in the first two rounds.
• From the third round onwards, no new candidates are allowed to stand. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, the person who receives the lowest number of votes is eliminated before the next round.
• The procedure is repeated until one person wins the absolute majority of votes, and is therefore declared the winner.
• Federal councillors are elected for a four-year term of office.

After the Federal Councillors have been elected, the Federal Chancellor is also elected. The procedure is the same as that for the Federal Council.