Switzerland’s president is set to use the country’s national day celebrations to highlight the importance of the upcoming federal elections. Speaking at the Grütli Meadow near Lucerne, Micheline Calmy-Rey will urge voters to endorse equality and diversity in October’s poll, at a time when far-right politics is gaining ground in the tiny state. The site is regarded as the place where Switzerland’s three founding cantons first agreed to join forces more than 700 years ago. The far-right Swiss Nationalist Party has urged its members to rally at the site – but organisers say entry is ticket-only and restricted to 2000.

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