GENEVA (AP) — Swiss women look set to claim a majority of Cabinet seats, less than four decades after winning a long battle for the right to vote in national elections.
A recent poll shows strong popular support for Social Democrat lawmaker Simonetta Sommaruga to gain one of two vacant places in the seven-member multiparty government.
Fellow candidate Johann Schneider-Ammann of the pro-business Free Democrats was second in the poll of 1,000 voters.
The Cabinet already has three female and two male members, representing five parties. They are expected to be re-elected when the parliament votes Wednesday.
Swiss women have voted in national elections since 1971. One Swiss canton, Appenzell Inner-Rhodes, prevented women from voting in local elections until 1990.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
