Today's Google Doodle honors the Switzerland National Elections in 2023

 Today's Google Doodle honors the Switzerland National Elections in 2023

In anticipation of today's (October 22) federal elections in Switzerland, Google Doodle published a doodle.  All National Council and Council of States members will be chosen on this day.

Switzerland will then conduct elections on December 13 for the Federal Council, the nation's collective administration, and the president.

In National Council elections, there are uniform requirements for both candidates and voters across Switzerland. Those who want to vote or run for office must be Swiss residents and at least 18 years old. Regardless of how long they have lived outside of Switzerland or whether they have ever lived there, Swiss nationals may participate by registering to vote in the canton where they last resided or where they acquired their citizenship.

Each of the 26 cantons serves as a constituency for the 200 members of the National Council. Open-list proportional representation is used in multi-member cantons along with apartments for associated parties and sub-apparentments for lists inside parties.

Initial consideration for seat allocation for apparented lists is taken as a whole. Without a set threshold, the Hagenbach-Bischoff approach is used for seat allocation. Voters have the option to check out names from party lists, enter duplicate names, use the panachage method to split their votes among many parties, or make their own list on a blank ballot. First-past-the-post voting was adopted by the six single-member cantons.

The number of people in each canton, including minors and foreign residents without voting rights, is taken into account when allocating seats to the National Council. In the official population count from the end of 2020, Zürich gained a seat, while Basel-Stadt lost one. Out of all the cantons, Zürich has the most seats.