1919 Swiss federal election

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 26 October 1919. The Free Democratic Party emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 60 of the 189 seats.

Electoral system
This was the first election after proportional representation was adopted.

The country was divided into 25 districts - 20 multiple-member districts, with as many as 32 seats, and five were single-member districts. In each, seats were allocated based on parties' vote tallies.

Every multi-member district saw multiple parties take seats. In some districts, no party took more than one seat.

Unlike the previous Plurality block voting system, each voter now had just one vote.

Switzerland used a system of apparentment, allowing parties to combine votes in the same district.

Council of States
In several cantons, the members of the Council of States were chosen by the cantonal parliaments.