Chamber:
	Ständerat - Conseil des Etats - Consiglio degli Stati
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	22 October 1995 28 November 1995
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held to renew 39 seats of the Council of States on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	At stake in the 1995 parliamentary elections were the 200 National Council seats and 39 of 46 in the Council of States. Altogether 2846 candidates were in the running for the former. Campaign debate focused above all on Switzerland's relationship to the European Union (EU), with divergent views on this issue even among members of the four-party governing coalition comprising the Radical Democratic Party (FDP/PRD), the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) and the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC). The last group, whose main voice was Mr. Christoph Blocher, opposed Swiss participation in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), considering them a threat to the country's wealth and traditional neutrality in politics; it also favoured drastic spending cuts to balance the national budget. The Social Democrats, on the other hand, strongly supported European integration and moreover pledged to protect Switzerland's social spending programs. Despite this prominent issue, voters failed to be galvanised and turned out at a meagre rate of just over 42%. Paradoxically, both the leftist SP/PS and the conservative SVP/UDC improved their positions, with the former overtaking the centrist FDP/PRD as the largest party in the National Council with 54 seats. The centre-right ruling alliance as a whole gained 15 seats at the expense of smaller parties and particularly the environmentalist Greens, thus arriving at 162. It also improved its overall position in the Council of States once runoffs were held for 12 seats in November. In both Councils, more seats went to women. Given this polling outcome - which, analysts predicted, would lead to further polarisation within the seven-member Cabinet and heated debate about EU entry - the "magic formula" coalition in effect since 1959 continues in power.

STATISTICS

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Gain/Loss
Radical-Democratic Party	17	-1
Christian-Democratic People’s Party	16	=
Swiss People’s Party	5	+1
Social-Democratic Party	5	+2
Liberal Party	2	-1
Independent Alliance	1	=
Ticino League	0	-1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	38
Women:	8

Distribution of seats according to age:
41 - 50 years	12
51 - 60 years	23
61 - 70 years	11