- Source: Judith Schmutz
Judith Schmutz (German pronunciation: [juˈdɪt ʃmʊts]; born 1996) is a Swiss lawyer and politician who has served as president of the Cantonal Council of Lucerne since 2023. She is the youngest president of the council in the canton's history, and one of the youngest in all of Switzerland. She was first elected to serve on the council in 2019, and represents the Hochdorf District.
Early life and education
Schmutz was born in 1996 in Müllheim, Switzerland, to Jürg and Beate Schmutz. She grew up in the Canton of Thurgau until 2007, when her family moved to Rain in the Canton of Lucerne after her father became the state archivist.
Schmutz attended the Beromünster Cantonal School and spent an exchange year in South Dakota. She later received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Fribourg and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Lucerne. After receiving her master's degree, Schmutz became an intern at the Hochdorf District Court and later joined a law firm in Lucerne.
Political career
Inspired by her experiences in the United States, Schmutz joined the Green Party of Switzerland at age 16 and became politically active. She was a member of the Lucerne youth parliament from 2014 until 2018, and was a national co-president of the Young Greens from 2016 until 2018. She also became a board member of the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund in 2020.
Schmutz was elected to the Cantonal Council of Lucerne in the 2019 elections, representing the Hochdorf constituency. While in the council, she spoke against a proposal which would allocate 500 million francs for the construction of new roads in Lucerne, arguing that the canton should focus on public transportation instead. She also accused the cantonal government of lowering benchmark targets to signal to the national government that public transportation was not a major issue in Lucerne. Schmutz was vice president of the cantonal council from 2022 until 2023. She was re-elected to the council in the 2023 elections, receiving the highest number of votes on the Green Party list.
On 19 June 2023, Schmutz was elected to a one-year term as president of the Lucerne Cantonal Council, receiving 93 out of 116 councillor votes. Aged 26, she became the youngest council president in the canton's history, and one of the youngest in all of Switzerland.