Swiss right-wing politician Christoph Blocher has narrowly won a Swiss cabinet seat, raising the profile of his right-wing People's Party (SVP) and rattling the coalition's status quo for the first time in over 40 years.
Switzerland's 246 upper and lower house representatives voted populist Blocher into the seven-member cabinet at the expense of the waning Christian Democrats (CVP) - the first time a seat has changed political colours since 1959.
The election of the billionaire industrialist and anti-EU campaigner Blocher came despite rivals having balked at the SVP's ultimatum to quit Berne's four-party ruling coalition unless the controversial politician finally got in.
The SVP was seeking fairer representation in the cabinet after it capped a 10-year rise from fourth-largest to largest party by topping the polls at October's general election.
The result ensures the Swiss system of consensual decision making - which has underpinned the political stability that forms a cornerstone of its huge financial industry - remains intact, with all four major parties represented in the cabinet.
"I will do what I can and hope God will ensure that it turns out well," Blocher told parliament after he was voted in, adding with a typical "man-of-the-people" touch that his home canton of Zurich should forego a major election celebration to save money.
The 63-year-old head of the SVP in Zurich has long been a thorn in the side of the establishment. But he has won popular support by campaigning to defend Swiss neutrality and calling for a clampdown on asylum-seekers in the nation of 7.3 million people, about a fifth of whom are foreigners.
Blocher, who also runs specialty chemicals maker Ems Chemie, is now likely to push ahead with plans to have Swiss banking secrecy laws enshrined in the constitution, preserving a key competitive advantage of the Swiss banking system.