First Lady or First Gentleman?: The love lives of the candidates for the Federal Council

1. Matthias Aebischer (56)

The chance that Matthias Aebischer will become a federal councilor is considered small. If he is elected against expectations, he would be the first magistrate to have a relationship with a parliamentarian – with the GLP faction leader Tiana Angelina Moser (44). As a member of the Legislature, Moser would also have to professionally vet her partner; conflicts of interest would be inevitable. Moser has a daughter with Aebischer and – from a previous relationship – three sons. Aebischer brought three daughters into the relationship. The Aebischer-Moser patchwork family has nine members – and another Bundesweibel is coming soon?

2. Evi Allemann (45)

The Bern government councilor has a good chance of getting on the SP ticket. The man at her side is fellow party member Stefan Berger (54), mayor of Burgdorf BE. Allemann and Berger already live in the conflict of interest that threatens Aebischer and Moser: Berger is a member of the Great Council in Bern – and controls his partner here. As a government councilor, she in turn exercises partial supervision over the Bernese communities, including the mayor of Burgdorf. Evi Allemann has a daughter and a son from a previous relationship with ex-Juso central secretary Marc Gebhard.

3. Jon Pult (39)

The Graubünden SP national councilor and media politician is married to the SRG journalist Sara Ibrahim. She is in her mid-thirties and works for the SRG platform Swissinfo. According to her X report, the convinced European has Italian-Egyptian roots. Out of love, Pult commuted from Chur GR to Paris, where Ibrahim lived in a shared apartment. She publishes a magazine about Islamic art and, according to her Facebook profile, appreciates the Jewish comedy ‘Wolkenbruch’s Wonderful Journey into the Arms of a Chick’. The Pult-Ibrahim couple seem to have an advanced food processor in the Marzili district of Bern: the convinced vegan recently offered a mixer for sale – reason: “Switching to Thermomix”.

4. Gerhard Andrey (47)

The Green Party’s candidate for the Federal Council has virtually no chance of forcing Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis out of office. But perhaps more important for Andrey is that he was able to marry his childhood sweetheart Christina Gräni (46). The couple has been together for 30 years and later had two more children (13 and 16). The mother works at the non-profit organization Powercoders, which integrates IT-savvy refugees into companies. The Andrey-Graenis live in Granges-Paccot, near Freiburg.

5. Defeat Jans (59)

If Jans were to succeed Alain Berset, the Tropical Institute in Basel would have a special line to the Minister of Health. His wife Tracy Reneè Jans-Glass (51) is from Miami (USA). The biostatistics expert is involved in many research projects at the Tropical Institute: from AIDS prevention in Central Africa to HPV vaccination for members of the Swiss army. The Jans-Glass couple have two daughters, Zoe (18) and Mia (15) and live in an apartment not far from the Rhine.

6. Daniel Jositsch (58)

Daniel Jositsch, state councilor of the Zurich SP, is divorced and has an adult son. He recently started a relationship with Alexia Stouder (45). She comes from Bergerac (F), which is 120 kilometers east of Bordeaux. She has lived in the Swiss Confederation since 1999, has a Swiss passport and speaks a dialect. She used to work in a bookstore, where she met Jositsch, who is now a law professor. Stouder has been working for Swiss Life since 2020. In the unlikely event that Jositsch becomes a federal councilor, the insurance company would have a good relationship with the AHV minister.

7. Roger Nordmann (50)

SP mastermind Roger Nordmann is married to a party member: Florence Germond (47), director of finance and transport of Lausanne. The couple has two children: Jean (19) and Edith (18). Even though national interest in Lausanne’s local politics is limited, Germond has repeatedly made it into the German-speaking press: with the red figures that Lausanne VD regularly writes, with the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2030, with the expansion of daycare squares and with a feminist book about forgotten women. The Nordmann-Germond family lives in a more than 100-year-old apartment building in Lausanne.l