Type: Package
Title: Interface to Swiss Parliament Web Services and the 'OpenParlData' API
Version: 0.3.0
Description: Provides machine-readable access to parliamentary data of the Swiss Federal Assembly via the 'OData' interface (https://ws.parlament.ch/odata.svc/) and the 'OpenParlData' REST API (https://api.openparldata.ch), which also offers harmonized data for selected cantonal and municipal parliaments.
URL: https://www.parlament.ch/de/%c3%bcber-das-parlament/fakten-und-zahlen/open-data-web-services, https://api.openparldata.ch/documentation
BugReports: https://github.com/zumbov2/swissparl/issues
License: MIT + file LICENSE
Encoding: UTF-8
LazyData: true
RoxygenNote: 7.3.3
Imports: dplyr, jsonlite, magrittr, purrr, stringr, tibble, tidyr, crayon, httr, ggplot2, glue, utils
NeedsCompilation: no
Packaged: 2026-03-04 07:20:07 UTC; DavidZumbach
Author: David Zumbach [aut, cre], Benjamin Gföhler [ctb]
Maintainer: David Zumbach <david.zumbach@gfzb.ch>
Repository: CRAN
Date/Publication: 2026-03-04 07:30:02 UTC

swissparl: The Swiss Parliament Webservices R API

Description

Interface to Swiss Parliament Web Services and the 'OpenParlData' API

Details

See the README on GitHub

Author(s)

Maintainer: David Zumbach david.zumbach@gfzb.ch

Other contributors:

See Also

Useful links:

Clean texts retrieved from WebServices

Description

clean_text removes HTML code, brackets and their contents as well as line breaks from texts.

Usage

clean_text(text, keep_round_brackets = T)

Arguments

text

a character vector.

keep_round_brackets

if TRUE, round brackets and their contents are not deleted.

Value

A character vector of same length as text.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get clean version of transcripts
get_glimpse(table = "Transcript", rows = 1000, Language = "DE") %>%
   mutate(Text2 = clean_text(Text))

## End(Not run)

Retrieve data from WebServices

Description

get_data retrieves data from the WebServices of the Swiss Parliament.

Usage

get_data(
  table,
  package_size = 1000,
  stop = T,
  attempts = 10,
  wtf = 1,
  silent = F,
  ...
)

Arguments

table

name of the table to download. For an overview of available tables use get_tables().

package_size

number of rows to download at once (maximum = 1000). If a query exceeds package_size, it is internally split into multiple subqueries of size package_size.

stop

if TRUE, the query process is interrupted if the query is invalid. It also indicates whether a non-existent table or variable was used in the query. If FALSE, nothing is returned.

attempts

maximum number of repetitions of a single subquery if it was not successful.

wtf

factor for extending the waiting time after unsuccessful queries. If wtf = 1, the waiting time corresponds to the number of unsuccessful attempts in seconds. For attemps = 10 and wtf = 1, a query is repeated for a maximum of 45 seconds. The waiting time increases proportionally with wtf.

silent

if TRUE, no progress bar and messages are displayed.

...

optional filter arguments with values. Since all entries are available in several languages, it is recommended to filter the calls by language., e.g. get_data(table = "Person", Language = "DE"). For a table-specific preview use get_glimpse() or get_variables(). The following things are to consider:

  • numbers for identification numbers, for example, must be entered as numeric vectors: e.g. get_data(table = "Voting", PersonNumber = c(21, 4167), Language = "DE").

  • dates must be entered as character vectors in yyyy-mm-dd format. > and < can be used to query periods: e.g. get_data(table = "Bill", SubmissionDate = c(">2018-12-31", "<2019-02-01"), Language = "DE").

  • the '~' can be used as substring search for character variables: e.g. get_data(table = "Bill", Title = "~CO2", Language = "DE").

Value

A tibble of different length and variable composition.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Retrieve data on the members of the Swiss Parliament
get_data(table = "Person", Language = "DE")

# Retrieve voting behavior of selected councillors
get_data(
   table = "Voting",
   PersonNumber = c(21, 4167),
   Language = "DE"
   )

# Retrieve businesses submitted during a specified period
get_data(
    table = "Business",
    SubmissionDate = c(">2018-12-31", "<2019-02-01"),
    Language = "DE"
    )

# Retrieve businesses on the subject of CO2
get_data(
    table = "Business",
    Title = "~CO2",
    Language = "DE"
    )

## End(Not run)

Retrieve data from the OpenParlData.ch REST API

Description

get_data2 retrieves data from the OpenParlData.ch REST API for a given resource.

Usage

get_data2(table, max_rows, package_size = 1000, silent = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

table

name of the OpenParlData resource to download. For an overview of available endpoints use get_tables2().

max_rows

maximum number of rows to return. If omitted, all available rows matching the query are downloaded.

package_size

number of rows to download per request (mapped to the API parameter limit). Default is 1000. If the result set exceeds package_size, multiple requests are made using the API's pagination links.

silent

if TRUE, no progress bar and messages are displayed.

...

additional query parameters passed to the OpenParlData endpoint as URL query parameters. Common parameters include:

  • search: search query string.

  • search_mode: one of "partial" (default), "exact", "natural", "boolean".

  • search_scope: where to search

  • search_language: language-specific search (de, fr, it, rm, en).

  • sort_by: field(s) to sort by; prefix with - for descending.

Resource-specific filters (e.g. body_key, lang, etc.) can also be supplied. Multiple values can be provided as an R vector and are encoded as a comma-separated query value (e.g. body_key = c("AI", "AR")).

Value

A tibble containing up to max_rows records. Column composition depends on the selected resource and query parameters.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Retrieve first 10 persons
get_data2("persons", max_rows = 10)

# Retrieve a specific person by first and last name
get_data2(
  "persons",
  firstname = "Karin",
  lastname = "Keller-Sutter"
)

# Partial search (default mode) in affairs
get_data2("affairs", max_rows = 10, search = "Budget", search_mode = "partial")

# Boolean search with grouping (note: '&' is an operator in boolean mode)
get_data2(
  "affairs",
  max_rows = 10,
  search = "(Klima | Umwelt) & Schweiz",
  search_mode = "boolean"
)

# Combine search with scope/language and sorting
get_data2(
  "affairs",
  max_rows = 10,
  search = "Bundesrat Parlament",
  search_mode = "natural",
  search_language = "de",
  sort_by = "-begin_date"
)



## End(Not run)

Retrieve the first rows of a table

Description

get_glimpse retrieves the first rows of a table of the Swiss Parliament WebServices and allows a first insight into its data structure.

Usage

get_glimpse(table, rows = 20, Language = "DE")

Arguments

table

name of the table to glimpse into. For an overview of available tables use get_tables().

rows

number of records to download. Maximum is 1000.

Language

filter rows by language. Possible are DE, FR, IT, RM, and EN.

Value

A tibble of different length and variable composition.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Short excerpt of table "Person"
get_glimpse(table = "Person")

## End(Not run)

Retrieve the first rows of an OpenParlData resource

Description

get_glimpse2 retrieves the first rows of a resource provided by the OpenParlData.ch REST API and allows a first insight into its data structure.

Usage

get_glimpse2(table, rows = 20)

Arguments

table

name of the OpenParlData resource to glimpse into. For an overview of available endpoints use get_tables2().

rows

number of records to download. Maximum is 1000.

Value

A tibble containing up to rows records. Column composition depends on the selected OpenParlData resource.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Short excerpt of OpenParlData resource "persons"
get_glimpse2(table = "persons")

## End(Not run)

Retrieve overview of all tables and variables

Description

get_overview retrieves the names of all available tables of the Swiss Parliament WebServices and the variables they contain.

Usage

get_overview(silent = F)

Arguments

silent

if TRUE, no progress bar and messages are displayed.

Value

A tibble with the 2 columns table and variable.

Examples

## Not run: 
get_overview()

## End(Not run)

Retrieve overview of all OpenParlData endpoints and fields

Description

get_overview2 retrieves the names of the main resources provided by the OpenParlData.ch REST API and the fields they contain.

Usage

get_overview2(silent = F)

Arguments

silent

if TRUE, no progress bar and messages are displayed.

Value

A tibble with the 2 columns table and variable.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Overview for OpenParlData REST API
get_overview2()

## End(Not run)

Description

get_related_data2 retrieves related records that are available for an OpenParlData record via its linked resources.

Usage

get_related_data2(res, table, silent = FALSE)

Arguments

res

an OpenParlData record (typically one row) as returned by get_data2().

table

name of the related table to retrieve. Use get_related_tables2() to see which related tables are available.

silent

if TRUE, no progress bar and messages are displayed.

Details

The function downloads the related data for a specified related table and combines the results into a single tibble. If multiple entities are present, the function iterates over them and optionally displays a progress bar.

Value

A tibble containing the related records.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Retrieve one person
res <- get_data2("persons", firstname = "Gerhard", lastname = "Andrey")

# List available related tables
get_related_tables2(res)

# Retrieve related data (replace "memberships" with an available table)
get_related_data2(res, table = "memberships")

## End(Not run)

Description

get_related_tables2 returns the names of related tables that are available for an OpenParlData record.

Usage

get_related_tables2(res)

Arguments

res

an OpenParlData record (typically one row) as returned by get_data2().

Value

A sorted character vector containing the names of available related tables for the provided record.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Retrieve one person
res <- get_data2("persons", firstname = "Gerhard", lastname = "Andrey")

# List available related resources for that record
get_related_tables2(res)

## End(Not run)

Retrieve available tables

Description

get_tables retrieves the names of the available tables of the Swiss Parliament WebServices.

Usage

get_tables()

Value

A sorted character vector containing the names of the available tables.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get all available tables
get_tables()

## End(Not run)

Retrieve available OpenParlData endpoints

Description

get_tables2 retrieves the names of the main REST API endpoints provided by the OpenParlData.ch API.

Usage

get_tables2()

Value

A sorted character vector containing the names of the available OpenParlData REST API endpoints.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get all available OpenParlData endpoints
get_tables2()

## End(Not run)

Retrieve available variables

Description

get_variables retrieves the variable names of a table of the Swiss Parliament WebServices.

Usage

get_variables(table, pb.pos = NULL, pb = NULL)

Arguments

table

name of the table to be queried. For an overview of available tables use get_tables().

pb.pos

value for the progress bar. Not to be specified outside of get_overview().

pb

progress bar object. Not to be specified outside of get_overview().

Value

A sorted character vector containing the names of the variables.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get variables of table "Person"
get_variables(table = "Person")

## End(Not run)

Retrieve available variables from an OpenParlData endpoint

Description

get_variables2 retrieves the field names of a resource provided by the OpenParlData.ch REST API.

Usage

get_variables2(table, pb.pos = NULL, pb = NULL)

Arguments

table

name of the OpenParlData resource to be queried. For an overview of available endpoints use get_tables2().

pb.pos

value for the progress bar. Not to be specified outside of get_overview().

pb

progress bar object. Not to be specified outside of get_overview().

Value

A sorted character vector containing the names of the fields available in the selected OpenParlData endpoint.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Get variables of OpenParlData resource "persons"
get_variables2(table = "persons")

## End(Not run)

Plot voting results

Description

ggswissparl plots voting results of the Swiss National Council according to the latest seating order.

Usage

ggswissparl(
  votes,
  seats = NULL,
  highlight,
  result = F,
  result_size = 6,
  point_shape = 16,
  point_size = 4,
  theme = "scoreboard"
)

Arguments

votes

data of votes of the Swiss National Council as can be retrieved with get_data(table = "Voting"). The variables PersonNumber, Decision, and DecisionText must be available from the data.

seats

data linking councillors (PersonNumber) to seats (SeatNumber). If is.null, the most current seating order is retrieved via get_data(table = "SeatOrganisationNr").

highlight

named list with variable and values to specify highlighting of selected councillors.

result

if TRUE, the result is annontated.

result_size

font size of result.

point_shape

shape of point as defined in [ggplot2]{geom_point}.

point_size

size of point.

theme

name of predefined plot theme:

  • "scoreboard" imitates the scoreboard in the council hall: neon-red (yes-votes), neon-green (no-votes) and white (abstentions) dots on black ground in white frames.

  • "sym1" colored symbols on light background in black frames.

  • "sym2" colored symbols on light background without frames.

  • "poly1" color-filled polygons with black edges.

  • "poly2" color-filled polygons with white edges.

  • "poly3" color-filled polygons without edges.

Value

A ggplot object. If votes contains multiple ballots, [ggplot2]{facet_wrap} is used to create facets.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Visualization of a vote of the 51st legislature
get_data("Voting", Language = "DE", IdVote = 23458) %>%
    ggswissparl()

# Highlighting a parliamentary group
get_data("Voting", Language = "DE", IdVote = 23458) %>%
    ggswissparl(highlight = list("ParlGroupNumber" = 2))

## End(Not run)

Seating plan of the National Council

Description

A dataset containing the relative locations of the seats in the Swiss National Council to display schematic seating plans. A seat is defined by 4 corner points.

Usage

seating_plan

Format

A data frame with 800 rows and 5 variables:

SeatNumber

seat identifier.

order

corner identifier.

x

position of a corner point on the x-axis.

y

position of a corner point on the y-axis.

center_x

position of the seat center on the x-axis.

center_y

position of the seat center on the y-axis.

Source

https://www.parlament.ch/en/organe/national-council/groups-chamber-nc