How many seats does each canton have in Parliament?
How many seats is my canton entitled to in the National Council and in the Council of States?
Seats in the National Council
The National Council represents the Swiss People. It is therefore also known as the People’s Chamber. Its 200 seats are divided among the 26 cantons in proportion to their total permanent resident population. The bigger a canton’s population, the more seats it has in the National Council.
Seats in the Council of States
The Council of States epitomises the concept of parity between the cantons. It can therefore be regarded as the Chamber of the cantons. Each canton has two seats, regardless of the size of its population; the exceptions are the former half-cantons (AI, AR, BL, BS, NW, OW), which only have one seat.
Distribution of seats in Parliament, by canton
| CANTON |
National Council |
Council of States |
|
|
Aargau |
 |
16 | 2 |
| Appenzell Outer Rhodes |
 |
1 | 1 |
| Appenzell Inner Rhodes |
 |
1 | 1 |
| Basel-Landschaft |  |
7 | 1 |
| Basel-Stadt |  |
5 | 1 |
| Bern |  |
24 | 2 |
| Fribourg |  |
7 | 2 |
| Geneva |  |
12 | 2 |
| Glarus |  |
1 | 2 |
| Graubünden |  |
5 | 2 |
| Jura |  |
2 | 2 |
| Lucerne |  |
9 | 2 |
| Neuchâtel |  |
4 | 2 |
| Nidwalden |  |
1 | 1 |
| Obwalden |  |
1 | 1 |
| St. Gallen |  |
12 | 2 |
| Schaffhausen |  |
2 | 2 |
| Schwyz |  |
4 | 2 |
| Solothurn |  |
6 | 2 |
| Thurgau |  |
6 | 2 |
| Ticino |  |
8 | 2 |
| Uri |  |
1 | 2 |
| Vaud |  |
19 | 2 |
| Valais |  |
8 | 2 |
| Zurich |  |
35 | 2 |
| Zug |  |
3 | 2 |
Who has more and who has fewer seats since the 2015 elections
The seats in the national Council are distributed among the cantons at the beginning of each new legislative period (every four years), in proportion to their permanent resident population. This calculated on the basis of the population in the year following the previous election.
The cantons of Geneva and Vaud each have one seat more than in the 2015 elections. The cantons of Bern and Lucerne each have one less.
Population per canton and increase or decrease in number of seats since 2015