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Parties expel Blocher in political ambush.

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Swiss ultranationalist Christoph Blocher was ousted from the cabinet on December 12, in a surprise coup that called into question the country's tradition of consensus politics. The political ambush, by parliamentary vote, came less than two months after his right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) received the highest vote ever recorded in a national election.

It also followed late-night manoeuvres by the left-leaning and centrist parties, who banded together against Blocher to support a lesser-known SVP colleague, lawyer Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, for the cabinet post.

Under pressure from her party to reject the post, she surprised the nation by accepting the nomination the following morning, and was sworn in immediately.

What happens next will alter the balance of power in the seven-member cabinet, which has comprised a single Christian Democrat seat along with two seats for each of the other three main parties.

After the vote, SVP president Ueli Maurer said that if Widmer-Schlumpf accepted the nomination, the party would leave the cabinet, creating an opposition faction in parliament.

SVPs Samuel Schmid and Widmer-Schlumpf will remain in cabinet but, as they do not follow the official party line...

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