Peter Bodenmann (born, 30 March 1952,

Lax A lax is a salmon. LAX as an acronym most commonly refers to Los Angeles International Airport in Southern California, United States. LAX or Lax may also refer to: Places Within Los Angeles * Union Station (Los Angeles), Los Angeles' main tr ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) is a Swiss lawyer, entrepreneur and former member of the National Council for the

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (, SP; ), also called the Swiss Socialist Party (; , PS), is a List of political parties in Switzerland, political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council (Switzerl ...

(SP). He was the president of the SP between 1990 and 1997.

Early life and education

He was born into a family with a political background in the Christian Democratic People's Party. After he graduated from the faculty of Law from 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 ...

, he worked as an independent lawyer in

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

. Since his early years he was interested in leftwing politics and was one of the founders the political magazine Red Anneliese. In 1971 Peter Bodenmann co-founded the Critical Upper Valais movement as he was 24 years old, he became a local councilor of Brig-Glis. In 1982 he opened a law office in Brig and in the same year the movement Critical Upper Valais merged with the SP Upper Valais.

Political career

In 1985 Bodenmann was elected into the

Grand Council of Valais The Grand Council of Valais ( ; ) is the legislature of the canton of Valais, in Switzerland. Valais has a unicameral legislature. Electoral system Members of the Grand Council of Valais are elected every four years. The Grand Council has 13 ...

and by November 1987 into the National Council. Bodenmann was a member of the National Council until 1997. In 1990 he assumed as the President of the SP, succeeding Helmut Hubacher In 1997 he resigned as the President of the SP, and Ursula Koch became the first woman to be elected President of the SP. In the same year he was the first politician of the SP to be elected to the State Council of

Canton Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

. In March 1999 he resigned from the State council of Canton Valais and was succeeded by Thomas Burgener (SP).

Political positions

During his tenure as the President of the SP, the party maintained clear leftwing politics and supported an eventual accession to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and came first in the Federal elections of 1995. He was a main rival of

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party ( ...

of 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) and advocated for sensitive framework conditions and for maintaining a competitive

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

exchange rate in Switzerland because of the export industry and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

Later activities

After leaving politics in 1999, he became the owner of a Hotel in Brig. He has also been writing columns on political and economic topics in the

Weltwoche ''Die Weltwoche'' (, "The World Week") is a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich. Founded in 1933, it has been privately owned by Roger Köppel since 2006. The magazine's regular columnists include the former president of the Social Democratic ...

and has earned himself the nickname ''Oracle of Brig''. Through his prominence as a former SP president and a political columnist, he maintained quite some influence in the politics of the SP. It was assumed that his political entourage supported Ursula Kochs reassignment of the presidency of the SP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodenmann, Peter People from Valais University of Zurich alumni 20th-century Swiss lawyers Swiss journalists 1952 births Living people Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians