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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Doris Leuthard is new Swiss president

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Geneva: The Swiss parliament on Wednesday elected Energy Minister Doris Leuthard to serve in 2017 in the largely symbolic position of president of Switzerland, for a second time.


The choice of the 53-year-old was all but certain, since it was her turn among the seven members of the Federal Council, or government, to take on the rotating one-year presidency.


The Christian Democrat who heads the ministry of environment, transport, energy and communications, won with 188 votes out of the 207 ballots, underlining strong support across the country’s political divides.


Leuthard, who previously served as Swiss president in 2010, has served as vice president in 2016 and will succeed Economic Affairs Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann of the Liberal Party at the helm of the government on January 1.


Socialist Alain Berset will take over as vice president, paving the way for him to rise to the presidency in 2018.


Originally from the German-speaking Swiss canton of Aargau, Leuthard is known for her broad smile and has been described by Swiss daily Le Temps as “a fighter” and a hard worker “who hates to lose”.


A lawyer by training, she headed Switzerland’s Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2006, and entered the Swiss government in 2006 and economic affairs minister.


When she served as president the first time, she was only the third woman to do so. Two other women have served as president since then.


Leuthard took over the ministry of environment, transport, energy and communications in late 2010, and has been at the forefront of efforts to dramatically shift Switzerland’s energy policies towards more renewable sources.


She backed the country’s decision after the 2011 tsunami-induced nuclear disaster in Fukushima to phase out its production of nuclear power, but recently helped beat back efforts to speed up that process.


— AFP


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