The Executive Council (German: Regierungsrat) is the executive body of the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt. The seven-member collegial body is elected by the people for a period of four years. The last election was held in October/November 2016. The people directly elect the president. The president of the Executive Council also serves as mayor for the city of Basel.
The campaign was a hard fought one, mainly because of the vacancy arising from the decision of Guy Morin not to stand in the 2016 election. This opened the up the opportunity for the centre-right alliance consisting of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party, the Swiss People's Party and the Christian Democratic People's Party to gain a majority in the Executive for the first time since 2004. They nominated four candidates for a joint ticket. The centre-left also formed an alliance to defend their majority in the Executive Council and nominated a joint ticket consisting of five candidates.