Political parties in Switzerland

The political parties in Switzerland are strongly influenced by Swiss federalism . The larger parties are mostly active at federal, cantonal and communal level through cantonal and communal sections , while many small parties limit themselves to political work in their canton or in their commune.

The party landscape is heterogeneous : four to five larger parties, most of which assume government responsibility in the federal government, cantons and municipalities, and many small parties cover the entire political spectrum as well as a number of special interests. The share of the vote in the two major political camps has remained practically unchanged for around a hundred years: bourgeois (liberal and conservative) parties collect around two-thirds of the votes, left-wing parties one-third.

In contrast to many other countries, there is hardly any party legislation and party financing is largely unregulated.

The Swiss political landscape

The political positions of the parties based on their voting slogans, 1985–1990 and 2010–14

National level

The most important parties in Switzerland are the so-called Federal Council parties . These are the parties with the largest number of voters and have at least one representative in the state government, i.e. in the Swiss Federal Council . From 1959 to 2008 these were Conservatives ( SVP ), Social Democrats ( SP ), Liberals ( FDP ) or Liberals ( LPS ) and Christian Democrats ( CVP ). After Federal Councilor Christoph Blocher was voted out of office in the 2007 Federal Council elections , the SVP declared itself an opposition party and excluded its previous Federal Councilor Samuel Schmid and the newly elected Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf from the parliamentary group. In 2008, Widmer's cantonal party was expelled and Schmid left SVP Switzerland. Since the election of Ueli Maurer as Schmid's successor on December 10, 2008, the SVP has again been represented in the Federal Council.

The term "governing parties" for these political forces is unusual, as there is no parliamentary opposition in the true sense of the word. In Switzerland it is quite common for a party represented in the Federal Council to act in opposition to a certain factual issue, e.g. B. with slogans for referendums (especially with the “pole parties” SP and SVP) (see concordance democracy , Swiss political system ).

The Swiss party landscape is traditionally divided into a bourgeois (i.e. liberal - conservative ) and a left - green camp. The equilibrium between these two camps has hardly changed at the national level since the introduction of proportional representation in 1919 (around two thirds vote bourgeois, one third left-green).

Within the two camps, however, there are sometimes major shifts, for example during the 2000s on the bourgeoisie with the rise of the Swiss People's Party , on the left with the strengthening of the Greens ; In addition, since the late 1990s, there has been a weakening of the middle class (FDP, CVP) in favor of the “more radical” right wing (SVP). After the 2011 elections with losses, especially for the SVP and the Greens on the one hand, and the successes of the more moderate bourgeois SVP split-off, the BDP and the Green Liberal Party , on the other hand, the center is again considered to have been strengthened.

Cantonal level

Up until the end of the 20th century, the party systems of the individual cantons differed greatly, both from one another and from the national constellation. With the standardization and centralization of the media situation (press concentration, electronic media), the party landscape in the cantons has since aligned itself with that in the urban centers of German-speaking Switzerland. The individual cantonal sections of a party still sometimes have different profiles or differ from their parent party. In most of the Catholic Swiss-German cantons, the left is weakly represented, but the CVP and the FDP (or, more recently, the SVP) dominate politics. In the reformed cantons, the originally Catholic CVP is only a small party, while the SVP, SP and FDP determine politics. The profile of the CVP in the Catholic strongholds is extremely conservative, while z. B. is liberal in the canton of Zurich . Since the split of the BDP, the SVP has had a right-wing conservative to right-wing populist profile in all cantons and at national level .

Party legislation

Switzerland is one of the few European countries that do not have any special legal provisions on political parties, neither for their financing nor for the financing of election campaigns. The Group of States against Corruption ( GRECO ), a partial agreement of the Council of Europe , therefore recommended in 2011 that Switzerland introduce regulations on the accounting and disclosure of donations by the parties. The Federal Council rejected this because, in its opinion, more transparency would deter the donors and sponsors of the parties and would ultimately result in state party funding.

Establishment and registration

Swiss legislation does not define the term political party. It appears in the new Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999 (Art. 137), which stipulates the following: "The political parties participate in the formation of opinion and will of the people". It is also contained in the ordinance of the Federal Assembly of December 13, 2002 on the register of parties (Art. 2): "A political party within the meaning of Article 76a BPR is an association which , based on its statutes, primarily pursues political purposes". In most cases, the political parties in Switzerland have the legal form of an association so that they have legal personality.

Political parties are not required to register. A party can, however, request that it is recorded in a party register kept by the Federal Chancellery. To do this, it must meet certain requirements: it must have the legal form of an association and be represented by at least one member in the National Council or by at least three members each in three cantonal parliaments. With the entry in the party register, the parties in federal elections are exempted from certain administrative formalities.

Party funding

→ Main article : Party funding in Switzerland

The financing of political parties and election campaigns as well as the accounting of the parties is not regulated by law at the federal level in Switzerland. However, this topic is regularly the subject of parliamentary advances, although this has not yet led to corresponding draft laws at the federal level. Only two cantons, Ticino and Geneva, have regulations on the disclosure of party donations and the annual accounts. The popular initiative “For more transparency in political financing (transparency initiative)” requires the disclosure of contributions of over CHF 10,000 to parties or campaigns at the federal level.

The Swiss Confederation finances neither the political parties nor the election campaigns directly. According to the Parliamentary Resource Act (PRG), however, public funding is provided for the benefit of the members of the federal councils and parliamentary groups. This annual financing of the parliamentary groups, which serves to cover the costs of their secretariats, consists of a basic contribution of CHF 144,500 per parliamentary group and a contribution of CHF 26,800 per parliamentary group member (Art. 12 PRG).

There are no regulations or restrictions on the private funding of political parties and election campaigns. According to the parties' statutes, they are financed from the following sources:

• Annual membership fees;
• Donations and gifts;
• Income from the sale of productions and services;
• Contributions of the group;
• Contributions from parliamentarians, judges and magistrates who belong to the party.

Since 2009, membership fees and donations to political parties can be deducted from taxable income, provided the party is entered in the party register, is represented in a cantonal parliament or achieved at least three percent of the votes in a canton in the last elections of the cantonal parliament. A maximum total of CHF 10,000 is deductible for direct federal tax; the cantons set the corresponding maximum amount for their taxes themselves.

Swiss companies in particular support political parties financially, although the criteria for this and the beneficiaries are usually not made public. The big banks Credit Suisse and UBS deviated from this practice in 2012, when they announced that they would support the parties in proportion to their parliamentary mandates with a total of CHF 1 million per year each. Credit Suisse wants to support all parties, while UBS only wants to support those who are “clearly committed to competition and the market economy”.

List of political parties in Switzerland

Strongest party per municipality (2019)

Parties represented in the Federal Assembly

logo	Political party	Abbreviation	Alignment	Seats Federal Council	Seats National Council	Seats Council of States	Seats canton parliaments	Year of foundation	European party
	Swiss People's Party	SVP	National conservatism , right-wing populism	2	53	6th	539	1971	-
	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland	SP	Social Democracy , Democratic Socialism	2	39	9	474	1888	SPE (associated)
	FDP The Liberals	FDP	liberalism	2	29	12	544	2009	ALDE
	Christian Democratic People's Party	CVP	Christian Democracy	1	25th	13	411	1912	EPP (associated)
	Green Party of Switzerland	GPS	Green politics	-	28	5	226	1983	EGP
	Green Liberal Party	glp	Green politics , liberalism	-	16	-	105	2007	ALDE
	Bourgeois Democratic Party	BDP	Centrism , liberal conservatism	-	3	-	50	2008	-
	Evangelical People's Party	EPP	Christian democracy , social conservatism	-	3	-	41	1919	ECPM
	Federal Democratic Union	EDU	Christian rights , national conservatism	-	1	-	19th	1975	-
	Lega dei Ticinesi	Lega	Right-wing populism , regionalism	-	1	-	18th	1991	-
	Swiss Labor Party	PdA	Communism , Democratic Socialism	-	1	-	11	1944	Tbsp
	solidarityS	Sol	Anti-capitalism , feminism	-	1	-	10	1992	EAL

Parties and movements not represented in the Federal Assembly

This possibly incomplete list includes organizations that are the subject of their own article or that are or were represented in a cantonal or municipal parliament of a municipality with more than 15,000 inhabitants.

National parties and movements

• Alternative Left (AL): alternative left, socialist, ecological
• Car Party (AP) (until 1994 Car Party , 1994-2009 Freedom Party of Switzerland (FPS) ): anti green, pretty populist, conservative, isolationist, strong right
• Christian Social Party (Switzerland) (CSP): Christian Democratic ( Christian Left ), ecological, social liberal, close to Christian unions, left
• Humanist Party of Switzerland (HPS): humanist, left, part of the humanist movement
• Integral Politics Switzerland (IP): Integral world and human image
• Catholic People's Party of Switzerland (KVP): Catholic fundamentalist, isolationist, ecological
• Nationally Oriented Swiss Party (PNOS): nationalist, anti-democratic, right-wing extremist
• Pirate Party Switzerland (PPS): for strengthening basic rights, free access to knowledge and culture
• Swiss Democrats (SD) (until 1990 national campaign against foreign infiltration of people and homeland (NA)): isolationist, nationalist, ecological, right-wing populist
• Social-Liberal Movement (SLB): social-liberal, conservative values, center-left
• Independence party up! (up!): libertarian , minimal state

Cantonal and regional parties and movements

• Alliance de Gauche : electoral alliance between the Labor Party and SolidaritéS
• Alpine Parliament : Bernese Oberland , right-wing esoteric
• Alternative list (AL): Canton Zurich and Canton Schaffhausen , left alternative, socialist, ecological
• Area liberale: Canton Ticino , liberal-conservative, represented in the canton parliament
• Basel's strong alternative (BastA): Canton Basel-Stadt , member of the Greens
• Movement for Socialism (BfS): Represented in the Cantonal Parliament of the Canton of Ticino .
• Christian Social Party Obwalden (CSP): Christian Democratic, center ( Canton Obwalden )
• Green alternative party : Canton of Bern , ecological, critical of growth and public authorities; Represented in the cantonal parliament of the canton and in the city parliament of the city of Bern , member of the Greens
• Group for Innerrhoden (GfI): Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden , center-left, cooperation with the SP, formerly represented in the National Council
• Young alternative YES! : Canton of Bern , youth party, alternative left
• Les Communistes : Canton of Geneva , communist
• Ligue vaudoise : more of a political movement, part of the front movement
• Mouvement citoyens romands / genevois (MCR / MCG): Protest party, populist, against cross-border commuters , French-speaking Switzerland (only relevant in the canton of Geneva )
• Parti Socialiste Autonome (PSA): social democratic, part of the SP Canton Jura , for the union of the Bernese Jura with the Canton of Jura. In the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern represented.
• Young SP Region Olten (JSP): Canton Solothurn , social democratic
• Partito Comunista : Ticino, communist, excluded from the PdA in December 2014, represented in the cantonal parliament of the canton of Ticino .
• Resistance Helvétique : French-speaking Switzerland, Catholic, right-wing extremist
• Vaud libre : Association of several local political groups in the Canton of Vaud, centrist, represented in the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud.
• Popular action against too many foreigners and asylum seekers in our homeland : Canton of Basel-Stadt , right-wing populist or right-wing extremist.

Communal parties and movements

• Bellinzona vivibile (Eng .: Bellinzona worth living in): Local political group in Bellinzona
• Biel People's Party (BVP): split off from SVP in 2010
• Civic Forum Positives Wädenswil (BFPW): Wädenswil community , right-wing civic,
• Chrampfe & Hirne, Frauenfeld , represented in the city parliament by five people, for environmentally friendly urban transport policy
• The Confederates: Biel / Bienne , emerged from the Freedom Party , right
• Entente pour Monthey: Monthey
• Forum 5430: Wettingen community
• Forum Ostermundigen
• Free list Gossau
• Free list Kreuzlingen
• Free voters Adliswil : local political grouping that has existed since the early 1930s
• Community Association Opfikon-Glattburgg: Community Opfikon
• Il Noce: Bellinzona, grouping around the mayor Brenno Martignioni, who was elected in 2012
• NOW !: Left parish party in the city of Aarau
• People for Frauenfeld: Represented in the Frauenfeld city parliament
• Nouveau parti libéral: party of the former Neuchâtel government councilor Frédéric Hainard, represented in the city parliament of La Chaux-de-Fonds .
• Party for Zurich (PFZ): liberal-conservative, split from the SVP
• Political women's group St. Gallen: feminist, left, represented in the city parliament of St. Gallen .
• Pro Aarau: represented in the city parliament of Aarau
• Quartierverein Schlieren : Local political group in Schlieren
• Swimming team : City of Baden
• Passarelle: Biel / Bienne, for non-partisan local politics, close to the left.
• Rägebogä-Egelshofä: Kreuzlingen

National young parties

→ Main article : Young Party (Switzerland)

• Young Civil Democratic Party (JBDP)
• Young People's Christian Democratic Party (JCVP)
• Young Federal Democratic Union (JEDU)
• Young Evangelical People's Party (jevp)
• Young Greens , Young Party of the Swiss Green Party
• Young Swiss Democrats (JSD)
• Young Green Liberals Switzerland (jglp)
• Young Swiss People's Party (JSVP)
• Young Liberals , Young Party of the FDP, Liberal Switzerland (JF)
• Young Socialists (JUSO), Young Party of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

Significant former parties

In order of their dissolution or withdrawal from politics:

Former left parties

• Communist Party Opposition (Switzerland) , communist, founded in 1930, represented by a member in the National Council, joined the SP in 1935.
• Fédération socialiste suisse , communist, founded in 1939 by pro-Soviet members excluded from the SP, banned in 1941.
• Progressive Organizations in Switzerland (POCH): 1968, strongly left, absorbed into the Greens and the SP between 1985 and 1993 .
• Communist Party of Switzerland / Marxist-Leninists (KPS / ML): emerged from the Center-Lénine, an organization of the Marxistes-Léninistes de Suisse, founded in Lausanne in 1964; Maoist group, merged in 1987 into the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP), the trail of which is lost after 1989.
• Liberal Socialist Party (LSP): emerged in 1946 from the Swiss Free Trade Association, in 1990 merged into INWO Switzerland ( Initiative for Natural Economic Order ).
• Revolutionary Marxist League (RML): Trotskyist, founded in 1969, change of name to Socialist Workers' Party (SAP) in 1980 , dissolved in 1990, successor organizations a. a. SolidaritéS and Movement for Socialism (BfS) - removed also in the Greens .
• Partito Socialista Autonomo (PSA): Canton of Ticino, left-wing socialist, Marxist, founded in 1969 as an SP split, renamed Partito Socialista Unitario (PSU) in 1988 , reunification with SP in 1992.
• Women make politics (FraP!): Feminist, left, represented in the National Council from 1991–1998.
• Democratic Social Party (DSP): Cantons of Basel-Stadt , Graubünden and Freiburg (here: Mouvement Ouverture / Free List ), centrist, traditional social-democratic split from the SP, slightly left of center, dissolution around 2010

Former right-wing parties

• National Socialist Federal Workers' Party : National Socialist , part of the front movement , dissolved in 1935.
• Volksbund : anti-Semitic , "Germany-friendly", part of the front movement, dissolved in 1938.
• National Front : National Socialist, part of the front movement, disbanded in 1940, successor organization Federal Collection banned in 1943.
• Farmers, Trade and Citizens' Party (BGB): bourgeois, merged with the Democratic Party in the SVP in 1971 .
• Republican Movement (Rep): xenophobic, right-wing populist, nationalist, bourgeois, absorbed by the Swiss Democrats in 1989 .
• Vigilance : Canton of Geneva, populist, xenophobic, represented in the National Council from 1975 to 1989, dissolved in 1991.

Former other parties

• Young farmers 'movement (Swiss farmers' homeland movement ): Split from the BGB, for smallholder interests, for wage and price support policy ( Keynesian economic policy), retreat from politics at the end of the 1940s.
• Democrats : independent, initially more on the left, later bourgeois, in 1971 merged with the SVP and the former FDP .
• Parti progressiste national (PPN): Canton of Neuchâtel, liberal, emerged in 1919 from the two vigilante groups Ligue ordre et liberté and the Union hélvetique, represented in the National Council from 1922 to 1931, incorporated into the Liberal Party in 1981 .
• State ring of the independents (LdU): sozialliberal, middle, dissolved in 1999.
• Liberal Party of Switzerland (LPS): 2009 merged with the FDP Switzerland to form the FDP. The Liberals
• Free Democratic Party (FDP): 2009 merged with the LPS to form the FDP. The Liberals

Development of the political influence of the parties

Development of the share of the vote in national council elections

Development of the distribution of seats in the Federal Council

See also

• List of political parties in Germany
• Political parties in Austria
• Political spectrum

literature

• Michael Hermann , Heiri Leuthold : Atlas of the political landscapes - an ideological portrait of Switzerland . vdf Hochschulverlag AG at the ETH, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-7281-2901-1
• Patricia Schiess Rütimann: Political parties: associations under private law between public law and private law . Habilitation Zurich 2010, Volume 41 of the series “Writings on party law and party research”, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8329-6959-2
• Swiss Federal Chancellery On a colored Switzerland

Web links

• Urs Altermatt , David Luginbühl: parties. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Leonhard Neidhart : bourgeois parties. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• On the history of the parties from 1987 - Institute for Political Science, University of Bern

Individual evidence

1. ↑ tagesschau.sf.tv: Maurer elected to the Federal Council , accessed on February 8, 2009.
2. ↑ Cheering "new center". The election victory belongs to the small parties GLP and BDP . In: NZZ Online . October 24, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} The content and partly the text comes from: Evaluation report on Switzerland: Transparency of party funding (Topic II) ( Memento of April 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 197 kB) , Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption ( GRECO ), Greco Eval III Rep (2011) 4F, October 21, 2011. As a report by an authority, this text is not protected by copyright ( Art. 5 URG ).
4. ↑ Markus Häfliger: Federal Council defends the lack of transparency in Swiss party finances , Neue Zürcher Zeitung of March 13, 2013, p. 13
5. ↑ Where does the parties' money come from? , Der Bund , April 20, 2016
6. ↑ SR 171.211 Ordinance of the Federal Assembly of March 18, 1988 on the Parliamentary Resources Act (VPRG). Retrieved January 3, 2020 . 
7. ↑ CS pays out CHF 1 million for political parties , Basler Zeitung of March 23, 2012
8. ↑ UBS promises a windfall for business-friendly parties , NZZ of April 25, 2012
9. ↑ Elections 2019, continuously updated results. Retrieved February 7, 2020 . 
10. ^ ^{A b} Peter Jankovsky, Locarno: Unrest on the right of the middle. In: nzz.ch. April 8, 2015, accessed October 14, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Intervista a Matteo Pronzini, eletto in Gran Consiglio sulla lista MPS-PC ( Memento of November 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ Young alternative YES!
13. ↑ http://pda.ch/2015/02/der-partito-operaio-e-popolare-pop-ist-die-neue-tessiner-sektion-der-pdas/
14. ↑ http://www.ticinonews.ch/ticino/222344/fucilato-il-partito-comunista
15. ↑ http://www4.ti.ch/poteri/gc/parlamento/elenco-deputati/dettaglio-deputati/?user_gcparlamento_pi3%5BcanID%5D=1707
16. ↑ Qui sommes nous? | Vaud Libre Info
17. ↑ ^{a b} Città di Bellinzona - Composizione
18. ↑ Bellinzona vivibile
19. ^ Biel: Crash in the SVP: City councilors leave the party and found BVP - News Region: Seeland & Jura - bernerzeitung.ch
20. ^ BFPW - Bürgerliches Forum positives Wädenswil
21. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
22. ↑ CH - Chrampfe & brains Frauenfeld
23. ^ The Confederates - Les Confédérés - I Confederati ( Memento of September 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
24. ↑ EPM - | - Bienvenue ( Memento from May 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
25. ↑ Conseil Général - Présentation ( Memento of November 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
26. ↑ Interpellation à l'Entente Pour Monthey. In: PDC Monthey-Choëx. October 9, 2012, accessed April 6, 2016 (French). 
27. ^ Forum 5430
28. ^ Wettingen Online: Residents' Council
29. ^ FORU M-Ostermundigen
30. ↑ Municipality of Ostermundigen - Large Municipal Council ( Memento of November 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
31. ↑ http://www.stadtgossau.ch/dl.php/de/505f04ecf1716/Wahlprotokoll_Parlament_23.09.2012.pdf
32. ↑ ^{a b} City of Kreuzlingen - the largest Swiss city on Lake Constance: municipal council
33. ^ Free list Kreuzlingen - history
34. ↑ Freie-Waehler-Adliswil: History ( Memento from September 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
35. ^ Members of the municipal council ( Memento from November 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
36. ↑ Community Association Opfikon-Glattbrugg - Welcome to the Community Association Opfikon Glattbrugg
37. ↑ Mayor of Bellinzona not confirmed in office - Switzerland - Aargauer Zeitung
38. ↑ CdT.ch - Ticino e Regioni - Bellinzona ha tagliato il Noce
39. ↑ Now! ( Memento from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
40. ↑ People for Frauenfeld - Who we are ( Memento from September 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
41. ^ PFG-Political Women's Group St.Gallen
42. ↑ Pro Aarau
43. ↑ Schlieren neighborhood association
44. ↑ passerelle-bielbienne.ch
45. ↑ With three candidates in the election campaign | Bieler Tagblatt
46. ^ Sébastien Farré: Vigilance. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . October 17, 2011 , accessed June 6, 2019 .
47. ^ Peter Moser: Bauernheimatbewegung. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 27, 2004 , accessed June 6, 2019 .
48. ^ Federal Statistical Office: National Council elections: strength of the parties. Data download. November 29, 2019, accessed November 30, 2019 .