Pierre-Yves Maillard

Who is Pierre-Yves Maillard?

Pierre-Yves Maillard is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party.

Born in Lausanne, he studied literature at the University of Lausanne and was president of the Swiss Students' Association. He taught French, history and geography in the secondary schools of Préverenges and Lausanne, and was also from 2000 to 2004 the regional secretary of the trade union FTMH Vaud Fribourg.

In politics, he served in the municipal parliament of Lausanne from 1990 to 1998, in the cantonal parliament of Vaud from 1998 to 2000, and in the National Council from 1999 to 2004. There, he was a member of the committees responsible for the environment, for land use planning and energy, and for finance.

Since 1 December 2004, he is a member of the government of the canton of Vaud and head of the Department of Health and Social Services. In March 2011, he became the first Socialist politician in the history of the canton of Vaud to be elected in the first round of a popular election, with 54% of votes cast. From March 2004 to 2008, he was also vice president of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland.

On 26 October 2011, he announced his candidacy to succeed Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey. On 25 November 2011, the parliamentary group of his party chose him, together with Alain Berset, as one of the party's candidates for the election of 14 December 2011.