of new housing units was 13.6 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent an average apartment in Lyss was 973.41 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$780, £440, €620 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 559.24 CHF (US$450, £250, €360), a two-room apartment was about 723.26 CHF (US$580, £330, €460), a three-room apartment was about 838.08 CHF (US$670, £380, €540) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1596.12 CHF (US$1280, £720, €1020). The average apartment price in Lyss was 87.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.44%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Twin Town Lyss is twinned with: Monopoli, Italy. Politics In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 28.51% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (23.05%), the FDP (20.5%) and the EVP Party (9.24%). In the federal election, a total of 3,135 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.5%. Lyss is governed by the Gemeinderat, an executive branch with 5 members, one of them elected mayor (Gemeindepräsident). The parliament has 47 members and is called Grosser Gemeinderat. The last elections were held in 2009 with the next elections scheduled to be in 2013. The 47 members of the legislative municipal council belong to 8 different political parties, the strongest being the FDP with 11 seats followed by the SVP with 10 and the SPS with 9 seats. The executive municipal council is made up of five members of three different political parties. The FDP and the SPS hold two seats each, the SVP holds one seat. The mayor Andreas Hegg is a member of the FDP. Economy , Lyss had an unemployment rate of 2.5%. , there were 54 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 20 businesses involved in this sector. 3,194 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 153 businesses in this sector. 3,761 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 505 businesses in this sector. the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 5,762. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 28, of which 22 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,905 of which