Fathi Derder (4 December 1970 – 25 January 2025) was a Swiss politician of the Liberal-Radical Party (PLR).[1]
Life and career
Early life and family
Born in Lausanne on 4 December 1970,[2] Derder had an Algerian father and a Valasian mother.[3] He was a dual national until 2000, when he gave up his Algerian passport over administrative difficulties.[4] He had two brothers.[5] He had four children in total;[6] two with his first wife Isabelle Falconnier [fr],[7][8] and two with his second wife Mélanie Chappuis [fr].[3]
Education and journalistic career
Derder studied letters at the University of Lausanne and joined its student radio station, Fréquence Banane.[9][10] He began his career with the newspaper La Côte before working at Radio Lac [fr] and Radio Suisse Romande.[3] In 2008, he was named editor-in-chief of La Télé [fr].[11] From May 2017 to July 2018, he was editor-in-chief of Agefi [fr].[12][13] In August 2022, he became co-host of the radio show Drôle d'époque.[14] Two months later, he was named president of the Chambre cantonale consultative des immigrés.[15] In November 2022, he succeeded Niniane Paeffgan as director of Swiss Digital Initiative.[16]
Political career
In 2011, Derder was elected to the National Council, where he joined the Science, Education and Culture Committee. In 2015, he took advantage of the fact that Olivier Français was appointed to the Council of States and was re-elected.[17] In 2018, he announced that he would not seek re-election.[18] In 2019, his term expired and he concurrently resigned from the PLR.[19] At the end of his term, he took a skeptical position of the website Lobbywatch [fr].[20]
Death
Derder died on 25 January 2025, at the age of 54.[21]
Publications
Le prochain Google sera suisse (à 10 conditions) (2015)[22]
