Christoph Blocher

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Christoph Blocher (born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss politician, industrialist and member of the Swiss Federal Council. As head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, he is the Swiss minister of justice.

He was born in Schaffhausen and has a doctorate in jurisprudence. He is married to Silvia Blocher (née Kaiser) with three daughters and a son. As an industrialist, he made a fortune in the chemical industry with the EMS-Chemie corporation. He has represented the canton of Zürich in the Swiss National Council since 1980 as a deputy of the Swiss People's Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei/Union démocratique du centre; SVP/UDC).

1 Political career
2 Federal councillor
- 2.1 Election
- 2.2 Record and controversies
3 External links

[edit] Political career

Blocher built his political career through campaigning for a smaller government, a free-market economy, against Swiss membership of the European Union and against illegal immigration. Until 2003, in addition to the Zürich chapter of the Swiss People's Party, he led a mass organisation, the Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland (Aktion für eine unabhängige und neutrale Schweiz). He has frequently been compared by his left-wing political opponents to figures such as Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jörg Haider.

Blocher is leader of the party's nationalist wing, which dominates the party's delegation to the National Council.

[edit] Federal councillor

[edit] Election

The People's Party emerged as the largest party in the National Council in the Swiss election of 19 October 2003. Blocher personally topped the poll in Zurich, and became Switzerland's most prominent and controversial politician.

Since 1929, the People's Party (under various names) has held a seat on the seven-member Swiss Federal Council. However, the party demanded another seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats and nominated Blocher as its second candidate. At the time the current coalition was formed in 1959, the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents--the forerunner of the People's Party--was the smallest party of the colition on the Council. By 2003, it was the largest while the Christian Democrats were the smallest. After threats of pulling the other People's Party member, Samuel Schmid, off the council and going into opposition, Blocher was elected on 10 December 2003. Blocher owes his election to the three communist national councillors, who refused to vote for Metzler, resulting in a tie of 116 votes each in the third round of voting. In the fourth round, Blocher beat Metzler with 121 to 116 votes. The election was anticipated as a major media event (NZZ, 8 December 2003), and widely watched as a live broadcast. After Blocher's election, there were spontaneous protests by members of the Swiss political Left (Tages-Anzeiger, 12 December 2003).

[edit] Record and controversies

Blocher took the seat of Ruth Metzler-Arnold, only the third federal councillor in history (and the first since 1872) not to be reelected. As a result of a reshuffling of Federal Council seats, Blocher became head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police.

During 2004, Blocher's unconventionally unaccommodating stance towards his fellow federal councillors was the cause for speculations about the future of the Swiss concordance system. He was attacked by his colleague Pascal Couchepin in an interview with the NZZ newspaper in the October 3 Sunday edition. The ongoing controversy is also reflected in the scandal resulting from a performance by the painter Thomas Hirschhorn at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris on December 5, 2004. In the performance, which was supported by the publicly funded Pro Helvetia institution, where an actor pretended to urinate on an image of Blocher. The resignation of councillor Joseph Deiss in 2006 has been connected in some media reports with the poisoned atmosphere on the council since Blocher's election. This was however not supported by other remaining council members, nor by the council president.

In a public speech held at his cantonal party's annual Albisgüetlitagung in Zurich on January 20, 2006, Blocher labeled two Albanians seeking political Asylum as "criminals", although no judicial sentence had been spoken at the time. Later, when confronted, he lied to the Swiss Council of States, claiming he had only used the word 'accused'. Since the speech had been recorded, he then had to admit that he had mistakenly used the word "criminals". In July 2006, a commission of the Council of States reprimanded Blocher, stating that the setting of false prejudice and lying to the Council of States constituted unacceptable behavior for a minister of justice.