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With 2,636 communes, 26 cantons and a federal tier of government, Switzerland very probably has the densest concentration of "politicians" in the world. But some posts remain unfilled, as Switzerland's system of grass-roots democracy is suffering from a shortage of volunteers. Why "very probably"? Because Switzerland, organised on federal lines, does not keep centralised statistics in this field. As for statistics in other parts of the world. It is, however, established that Switzerland's resident population of 7.7 million is spread over 2,636 communes, giving an average of 2,921 inhabitants per commune. In Europe, only France has proportionally more communes (with an average of only 1,800 inhabitants). Elsewhere, the parish-based territorial system has been "modernised", and non-urban communes often cover vast rural areas comprising a number of villages. In Switzerland, every commune has at least three elected representatives (and sometimes as many as 15), who make up the local executive. This executive body, whose name varies from canton to canton (commune council, town council, administrative council), must have its decisions approved by a "parliament" (also generally referred to as a "council"), be it commune or general. These local councils are supported by a number of committees (as many as ten in larger communes), which have responsibility for schools, the cemetery, town planning and so on. Their members are generally elected. However, not all communes have an elected legislative body. Nationwide, this is the exception rather than the rule: in four cases out of five, it is the entire population which acts as the "parliament". And it is not always a matter of size. Although the French-speaking cantons generally favour representative democracy, and even communes with only a few hundred inhabitants elect a council, Germanspeaking Switzerland and the canton of Valais are still very much attached to direct democracy. For instance, in canton Zurich there are ten towns of over 10,000 inhabitants where legislative power is in the hands of the popular assembly. Swiss people are citizens of both their commune and their canton. The 26 cantons making up the Confederation each has its own constitution, laws, government (five or seven members) and parliament (of between 46 and 200 deputies), elected by the people. Interestingly, two cantons (Appenzell Inner Rhodes and Glarus) have retained the tradition of Landsgemeinde, an assembly of all the citizens, which meets once a year in the square of the chief town to ratify major decisions taken by the government and parliament. Finally, Switzerland has a two-chamber Federal Parliament (200 and 46 members). (swissinfo) x