2003 election The People's Party emerged as the largest party in the National Council in the
Federal Assembly election of 19 October 2003 with 26.6% of the vote. Blocher personally topped the poll in Zürich, and became Switzerland's most prominent and controversial politician. Since 1929, the People's Party (known until 1971 as the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents [BGB]) had held a seat on the seven-member Swiss Federal Council. At the time the current coalition formed in 1959, the BGB was the smallest party represented on the Council. By 2003 it had become the largest party, and demanded another seat at the expense of the
Christian Democrats, now the smallest party. The SVP nominated Blocher as its second candidate. This generated a good deal of controversy; previously most SVP councillors had come from the party's more moderate centrist-agrarian wing. After threats of pulling the other People's Party member,
Samuel Schmid (a member of the centrist wing), off the council and going into opposition, Blocher was elected on 10 December 2003. He took the seat of
Ruth Metzler-Arnold, only the third federal councillor in history (and the first since 1872) not to be reelected. In the third round Blocher beat Metzler with 121 to 116 votes. The election was anticipated as a major media event and widely watched as a live broadcast. After Blocher's election, members of the Swiss political Left spontaneously protested. As a result of a reshuffling of Federal Council seats, Blocher became head of the
Federal Department of Justice and Police.
Controversies 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 Sunday edition of 3 October. This was unprecedented in Switzerland; members of the Federal Council traditionally do not publicly criticise each other. In a public speech held at his cantonal party's annual
Albisgüetlitagung in Zürich on 20 January 2006, Blocher labeled two Albanians seeking political asylum as "criminals", although no judicial verdict had been reached at the time. Later, when confronted, he claimed before the
Swiss Council of States (the
upper house) that he had only used the word 'accused'. Since the speech had been recorded, he then had to admit that he had used the word "criminals". In July 2006, a commission of the Council of States reprimanded Blocher, stating that the setting of false prejudice and making false statement to the Council of States constituted unacceptable behaviour for a Federal Councillor. On 5 September 2007, a parliamentary committee sharply criticised Blocher for overstepping his mandate in his handling of the resignation of former chief prosecutor
Valentin Roschacher in 2006. In addition, documents confiscated in March by the German authorities from private banker Oskar Holenweger under suspicion of money laundering were presented as supporting a possible involvement of Blocher in a plot to oust Roschacher from office. Blocher denied any involvement in such a plan. These developments happened to coincide with a campaign alleging a "secret plan to oust Blocher" initiated by the SVP on 27 August, and party spokesperson S. R. Jäggi on 6 September confirmed that campaign was referring to the documents incriminating Blocher in the Roschacher affair now revealed. Tension surrounding the "Blocher-Roschacher affair" was fuelled by the upcoming
2007 federal election. On 25 September, the
National Council (the
lower house) decided to press a debate of the affair before the elections, overturning a decision by the council's office. Blocher was a target for the opposition on 18 September 2007, when his appearance at the
Comptoir suisse (Swiss fair) in
Lausanne was disrupted by protesters. In January 2012, it was reported that Blocher had received information from an unnamed
whistleblower regarding foreign exchange trades at
Bank Sarasin made by
Swiss National Bank chairman
Philipp Hildebrand's wife Kashya. The alleged whistleblower was subsequently fired and faced criminal investigations under
Swiss banking secrecy laws. Hildebrand denied accusations of
insider trading, claimed to be the "victim of a smear campaign" and said that his political foes endangered the secrecy laws and "the interests of Switzerland" with the accusations. Blocher had called for Hildebrand's resignation in 2011 in the wake of SNB's
foreign exchange-related losses before Hildebrand ultimately resigned.
2007 failed reelection In the Swiss Federal Council elections of 12 December 2007, Blocher did not receive the necessary number of votes in the parliament to retain his seat. In his stead, the parliament elected
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (a moderate SVP member), who accepted the mandate on 13 December 2007. Blocher thus became the fourth federal councillor to be ousted from office in the history of the Swiss Federal State, following
Ruth Metzler whom he had replaced the previous term, besides
Ulrich Ochsenbein and
Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel in the 19th century. As of 2024, he is the most recent federal councillor to leave office having never served as
president of the Swiss Confederation.
2008 candidacy Following the resignation of federal councillor
Samuel Schmid on 12 November 2008, Blocher decided to run for the office again. The People's Party nominated him together with
Ueli Maurer. In view of the 2007 election results, Blocher's chances to be re-elected were thought to be very slim. Not surprisingly, he had no chance of being re-elected and had to make room for his party colleague Ueli Maurer, who won the election in the end. ==Post councillorship==