Hans Stöckli Explained

Hans Stöckli
Office2:Member of the Council of States
Term Start2:5 December 2011
Constituency2:Bern
Office1:First Vice President of the Council of States
Term Start1:26 November 2018
Term End1:2 December 2019
Predecessor1:Jean-René Fournier
Successor1:Alex Kuprecht
Office:President of the Council of States
Term Start:2 December 2019
Term End:30 November 2020
Predecessor:Jean-René Fournier
Successor:Alex Kuprecht
Office3:Member of the National Council
Term Start3:20 September 2004
Term End3:4 December 2011
Constituency3:Bern
Birth Date:12 April 1952
Birth Place:Wattenwil, Switzerland
Party:Social Democratic Party
Awards:World No Tobacco Day Award (2022)[1]

Hans Stöckli (born 12 April 1952) is a Swiss politician who served as President of the Council of States from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), he was first elected to the Council of States for the canton of Bern in 2011. Stöckli was previously elected to the mayorship of Biel (1990–2010), Grand Council of Bern (2002–2004) and National Council (2004–2011).

Biography

Early career

Stöckli entered politics in 1979 winning election to the City Council of Biel. In 1990, he became mayor of the commune. In 2002, he moved to the Grand Council of Bern; two years later, he was elected to the National Council to replace Rudolf Strahm, who had been appointed as the Swiss price regulator.[2] [3]

Swiss Federal Assembly

He was reelected in 2007 and then won election to the Council of States in 2011, succeeding Adrian Amstutz. He had written an essay in 1971 calling for the abolition of the body, which he said had grown stale at the time. In 2018, he was elected as First Vice President of the Council of States, which gave him the upper hand in the 2019 election for the presidency. He was indeed elected on 2 December 2019 with 49 out of 51 votes as President of the Council of States alongside Alex Kuprecht as First Vice President. Kuprecht succeeded him the next year.[4]

From 2018, he chairs the committee of the federal popular initiative "Yes to protecting children and young adults from tobacco advertising", which was accepted in the federal vote on 13 February 2022. In 2022, the World Health Organization awarded him a World No Tobacco Day Award.[1] [5] [6]

Personal life

Stöckli speaks all four official languages of Switzerland.[4] He is married to Katharina Stöckli, a teacher.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: World No Tobacco Day 2022 awards – the winners . . 27 May 2022 . who.int . . 29 May 2022 .
  2. Web site: Official website of Hans Stöckli . 2019-12-28.
  3. News: Watchdog Strahm bows out from friends and foes . SwissInfo . 2008-08-31.
  4. News: Ständeratspräsident Stöckli überrascht mit Geständnis . German . Tages Anzeiger . 2019-12-02.
  5. News: Hans Stöckli erhält WHO-Award für «Kinder ohne Tabak»-Initiative . . 2022-05-24 . 2022-05-24.
  6. News: L’OMS décerne un prix au conseiller aux États Hans Stöckli . . 2022-05-24 . 2022-05-24.