From the founding year of 1874 up until the year 1966, the Berne-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) was presided by a Swiss. The election of the Egyptian Rahi broke with this tradition and caused turmoil in the political circles of the Federal Capital. Concerned with these events, an article based on research using the Dodis database was published in the “Berner Zeitung” on July 25 2012.
The article by Andreas Saurer cites from an interpellation of the member of the National Council Otto M. Wenger (dodis.ch/32059) and the ensuing answer of Federal Councilor Willy Spühler (dodis.ch/31585), as well as from a note of the Federal Political Department, today’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (dodis.ch/32064). More Information on the UPU as a special organization of the UN is available on the database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland on dodis.ch/R731.