Swiss president Ogi quits Cabinet after 13 years

"I'm not tired of office," said Ogi, 58, the defense and sports minister who this year holds Switzerland's rotating presidency. But said he had yet to decide what he would do next. Achille Casanova, cabinet spokesman, said "a somber atmosphere pervaded" the government when Ogi told the other members of his decision.

As the only representative of the right-wing Swiss People's Party in the council, the moderate Ogi will leave an opening for someone farther to the right when he steps down Dec. 31. It also may mean a renegotiation the power-sharing accord among four parties under which the cabinet represents the broad center of Swiss politics.

While the three other parties have two seats each, the People's Party - until now the smallest - has only one. As a member of the moderate wing of the People's Party, Ogi has been increasingly isolated as the party made electoral gains on an anti-foreign platform Ogi opposes.

The growth of the party, now the second largest in parliament, already has raised questions over whether the government would have to revise its composition and introduce tougher immigration policies as demanded by populist standard bearer, Christoph Blocher. "I have tried to conduct myself a member of the council in an open, social and liberal spirit," Ogi said.

He has joined with other members of the cabinet in favoring membership in the European Union and in the United Nations, proposals which meet opposition in his own party. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Ogi "made a major contribution by strengthening Switzerland's international engagement, not least with the United Nations."

It is uncertain whom the party will put forward to replace him. Lawmakers will meet Dec. 6 to choose Ogi's successor. Cabinet members are elected without a fixed term.

(AP)