Following the victory of the ÖVP in the 2017 elections, on 20 October Sebastian Kurz, the party’s leader since mid-May and foreign minister in the outgoing SPÖ-ÖVP coalition, was formally tasked with forming the next government. On 15 December the ÖVP and FPÖ announced a coalition agreement, and the new government took office on 18 December.
The Swiss Confederation’s head of state is a president, elected annually by the Federal Assembly from the members of the Federal Council. Elections for the coming year were held on 6 December 2017.
On 2 November 2017 Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left-Green Movement (VGF) which had come second at the previous month’s elections, was given the mandate to form a new government. She formed a coalition with the SSF, which remained the largest party and had headed the outgoing government, and the FSF.
