Who runs local government in Switzerland?
Switzerland is built from the bottom up: about 2,100 communes and 26 cantons, each with wide powers and its own rules. Many communes are governed by an assembly of all citizens rather than a parliament, and two cantons, Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden, still hold an open-air Landsgemeinde where voters decide laws by show of hands.
Swiss Confederation · Federal directorial republic with direct democracy · Western Europe
The levels of government below the nation
| Level | How it is chosen | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Cantons (26) | Elected cantonal parliament and directly elected government | Own constitutions, police, schools, hospitals, taxes; they decide how communes are organised. |
| Districts (in some cantons) | Varies: some district prefects (Statthalter, préfets) are elected by the people, others appointed | Cantonal administration and supervision. |
| Communes (Gemeinden/communes/comuni, about 2,100; 2,148 in 2022) | Executive council elected; legislature is either a communal assembly of all citizens or an elected parliament | Schools, local planning, social assistance, utilities, local taxes; they also play a part in granting citizenship. |
| Citizens' communes and corporations (Bürgergemeinden, Korporationen) | Members are people holding local citizenship ('origin'), not all residents | In some cantons they own forests and land and decide on naturalisation. |
Three questions about local power in Switzerland
Are local leaders elected?
Communal executives and, where they exist, parliaments are elected; elsewhere all voters decide directly in assemblies. Some district officials are elected, others appointed.
Which laws set up local government?
Article 50 of the Federal Constitution guarantees communal autonomy within cantonal law; Landsgemeinden are in the cantonal constitutions. Neighbourhood groups are informal.
Who are local leaders accountable to?
Voters through elections, assemblies and frequent referendums; cantonal supervision; the Federal Supreme Court protects communal autonomy.
Traditional and customary authority
No religious or hereditary authority governs, but old forms of direct democracy have legal force. The Landsgemeinde in Glarus (first Sunday in May) and Appenzell Innerrhoden (last Sunday in April) is a formal cantonal law-making assembly. In central Switzerland, corporations such as the Oberallmeindkorporation in Schwyz, owned by families with long local roots, manage large common lands. Churches are organised by cantons; in many, parishes (Kirchgemeinden) are public bodies that elect officials and collect church tax.
Community and neighbourhood power
The communal assembly (Gemeindeversammlung / assemblée communale), open to all local voters, decides budgets and local laws in most smaller communes. Neighbourhood associations and residents' groups are informal. Glarus merged its 25 communes into just three, a decision taken at the 2006 Landsgemeinde and in force from 2011.
Points to know
- Several French-speaking cantons (Neuchâtel, Jura, Vaud, Fribourg, Geneva) let foreign residents vote in communal matters; some German-speaking cantons let communes choose to.
- Swiss citizenship is held at three levels at once: commune, canton and federation.
- Communes set their own tax rate on top of cantonal and federal taxes, so tax varies widely by place.
- Mergers have reduced communes from about 2,900 in 2000.
Local terms
- Landsgemeinde
- An open-air assembly of all a canton's voters who vote on laws by show of hands.
- Gemeindeversammlung
- A communal assembly of all local voters, acting as the local legislature.
- Bürgergemeinde
- A 'citizens' commune' made up of people who hold local citizenship, often owning land.
Sources
- Constitution of Switzerland (1999, rev. 2014), Constitute Project, checked 14 October 2026
- Landsgemeinde Glarus – Allgemeine Informationen, Canton of Glarus, checked 14 October 2026
- Landsgemeinde (Appenzell Innerrhoden), Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, checked 14 October 2026
- Switzerland: country profile (territorial organisation, responsibilities, finance), OECD–UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI), checked 14 October 2026
- Switzerland: monitoring of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Recommendation 407 (2017)), Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CARTA-MONITOR), checked 14 October 2026
See also: Switzerland's official statistics and leaders · the 10 levels of power.