The United Federal Assembly is the joint plenary session of Switzerland's bicameral parliament, comprising the National Council and the Council of States. Its constitutional mandate primarily encompasses electoral and oversight functions, including electing members of the Federal Council, the Federal Chancellor, and federal judges, as well as issuing pardons and arbitrating jurisdictional conflicts. Established alongside the modern Swiss federal state in 1848, the assembly first convened in November of that year to elect the nation's inaugural executive council.