Jon Andri Pult (; ; born 12 October 1984) is a Swiss consultant, historian and politician who currently serves as a member of the

National Council (Switzerland) The National Council (; ; ; ) is a house of the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly of Switzerland, representing the people. The other house, Council of States (Switzerland), Council of States, represents the states, preventing mor ...

for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

since 2019. He previously served on the Grand Council of Grisons between 2010 and 2018. In the

2023 Swiss federal election Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 22 October 2023 to elect all members of the National Council (Switzerland), National Council and Council of States (Switzerland), Council of States. The elections were followed by 2023 Swiss Federal ...

, Pult declared official candidacy for

Federal Council (Switzerland) The Federal Council is the federal Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and Head of government, government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the F ...

, to succeed

Alain Berset Alain Berset (; born 9 April 1972) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2012 to 2023. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), he headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs from when he too ...

Early life and education

Pult was born 12 October 1984 in Scuol, Switzerland, to Clot Pult, a teacher, and Marcella Pult (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Palmara), an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

-born art historian and translator. He was raised in Guarda and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

until he entered kindergarten in

Domat/Ems Domat/Ems ( ; ) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Imboden Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. History Domat/Ems is first mentioned in 765 as ''colonia de Amede''. Ems is the Ger ...

. His grandfather was

romanist Romanist may refer to: * A person who studies the history of Rome * A historian or archaeologist who specialises in Ancient Rome * A person who is a student of the Romance languages * A Netherlandish painter painting in the Romanist style * Rom ...

and culture advocate. His uncle is Romansh lecturer, translator and cultural mediator Chasper Pult (born 1949). Later he attended primary and high school in

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

. Following he studied history at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

and graduated with a licentiate about the History of the

Rhaetian Railway The Rhaetian Railway (; ; ), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB operates all the railway lines of the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

Professional career

In 2016, Jon Pult was employed by Feinheit, a campaign and strategy developer. Since 2022, he is a

Member of the Board A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of Feinheit. In 2014, Pult assumed the presidency of the , an association which aims at safeguarding the Alps from transit traffic. In March 2024 Jon Pult was elected as member of the Board of the Convivenza Foundation - International Center for Minorities.

Political career

He has for years been mentioned as one of the political talents with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung describing him in 2014 as the political talent. Three former presidents of the SP have lauded him and he is widely viewed a promising politician. Jaqueline Fehr called him in 2010 a promise to the future, Peter Bodenmann reasoned in 2015 that the current SP president

Christian Levrat Christian Levrat (born 7 July 1970) is a Swiss politician. He served as the President of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland from 2008 until 2020. He has served as a member of the Council of States from Fribourg since 2012. Prior to the ...

was only staying president to give Pult some more time to get ready and when Helmut Hubacher was asked who the candidates for the succession of Levrat were, he answered that even though the people talked about others, in his opinion Pult was the main talent for the party.

Cantonal politics

Between 2005 and 2011, he was a member of the Municipal Council of

, and between 2010 and 2018 one of the Grand Council of Grisons. As a Grand Councilor he was in favor of a revision of the electoral system from the majoral to the proportional system and joined forces with the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

(SVP). In 2013, the

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

branch of the SP managed to stop the candidature of St.Moritz to become the host of the Olympic Games 2022. In 2018 he resigned because he wanted to be elected to the National Council in 2019 and his party would have lost a seat if he had to resign from the Grand Council after getting elected to the National Council.

Member of the National Council

In national politics he was a candidate to the National Council in 2011 and also 2015, but was not elected. In 2019 he was a candidate to both the National Council (the lower chamber) and the Council of States (the higher chamber). In his electoral campaign to the National Council he positioned himself as focused on policy regarding traffic and Europe. Eventually he was elected to the National Council as a representative for Grisons for the SP.

Personal life

Pult is in a relationship with Sara Ibrahim, an editor and journalist, of

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

and

origin. She primarily works for

SwissInfo SWI swissinfo.ch is a Swiss Multilingualism, multilingual international news and information company based in Bern. It is a part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). Its content is Swiss-centred, with top priority given to in-depth ...

focussing on Middle Eastern and North African topics. They have one child. Pult is a citizen of Italy and Switzerland and lives in Chur. His

place of origin In Switzerland, the place of origin (, literally "home place" or "citizen place"; ; , literally "place of relevance") denotes where a Swiss citizen has their municipal citizenship, usually inherited from previous generations. It is not to be confus ...

is Sent in Grisons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pult, Jon Andri Living people People from Scuol Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2023–2027 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2019–2023 21st-century Swiss historians 1984 births Candidates for the Federal Council (Switzerland)