Swiss People's Party

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Swiss People's Party / Democratic Union of the Centre
  • Council of States
6 / 46
Cantonal executives
23 / 154
Cantonal legislatures
590 / 2,609
Website
svp.ch (in German)

^ A: The party has also been described as far-right.[10][11][12][13]

The Swiss People's Party (

Council of States
.

The SVP originated in 1971 as a merger of the

Democratic Party, while the BGB, in turn, had been founded in the context of the emerging local farmers' parties in the late 1910s. The SVP initially did not enjoy any increased support beyond that of the BGB, retaining around 11% of the vote through the 1970s and 1980s. This changed however during the 1990s, when the party underwent deep structural and ideological changes under the influence of Christoph Blocher; the SVP then became the strongest party in Switzerland by the 2000s.[18]

In line with the changes fostered by Blocher, the party started to focus increasingly on issues such as Euroscepticism[19] and opposition to mass immigration.[20] Its vote share of 28.9% in the 2007 federal election was the highest vote ever recorded for a single party in Switzerland[21] until 2015, when it surpassed its own record with 29.4%.[22] Blocher's failure to win re-election as a Federal Councillor led to moderates within the party splitting to form the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP), which later merged with the Christian Democratic People's Party into The Centre. As of 2019, the party is the largest in the National Council with 53 seats. It has eight seats in the Council of States.[23]

History

Background, farmers' parties

The early origins of the SVP go back to the late 1910s, when numerous

Protestant, German-speaking parts of Switzerland. While the Free Democratic Party had earlier been a popular party for farmers, this changed during World War I when the party had mainly defended the interests of industrialists and consumer circles.[24] When proportional representation was introduced in 1919, the new farmers' parties won significant electoral support, especially in Zürich and Bern, and eventually also gained representation in parliament and government.[25] By 1929, the coalition of farmers' parties had gained enough influence to get one of their leaders, Rudolf Minger
, elected to the Federal Council.

In 1936, a representative party was founded on the national level, called the

anti-militarism, it sought to represent local Swiss traders and farmers against big business and international capital.[25]

The BGB contributed strongly to the establishment of the Swiss national ideology known as the

Geistige Landesverteidigung (Spiritual Defence of the Nation), which was largely responsible for the growing Swiss sociocultural and political cohesion from the 1930s. In the party's fight against left-wing ideologies, sections of party officials and farmers voiced sympathy with, or failed to distance themselves from, emerging fascist movements.[26] After World War II, the BGB contributed to the establishment of the characteristic Swiss post-war consensual politics, social agreements and economic growth policies. The party continued to be a reliable political partner with the Swiss Conservative People's Party and the Free Democratic Party.[27]

Early years (1971–1980s)

In 1971, the BGB changed its name to the Swiss People's Party (SVP) after it merged with the

Graubünden.[28] The Democratic Party had been supported particularly by workers, and the SVP sought to expand its electoral base towards these, as the traditional BGB base in the rural population had started to lose its importance in the post-war era. As the Democratic Party had represented centrist, social-liberal positions, the course of the SVP shifted towards the political centre following internal debates.[29] The new party however continued to see its level of support at around 11%, the same as the former BGB throughout the post-war era. Internal debates continued, and the 1980s saw growing conflicts between the Bern and Zürich cantonal branches, where the former branch represented the centrist faction, and the latter looked to put new issues on the political agenda.[29]

When the young entrepreneur Christoph Blocher was elected president of the Zürich SVP in 1977, he declared his intent to oversee significant change in the political line of the Zürich SVP, bringing an end to debates that aimed to open the party up to a wide array of opinions. Blocher soon consolidated his power in Zürich, and began to renew the organisational structures, activities, campaigning style and political agenda of the local branch.[30] The young members of the party was boosted with the establishment of a cantonal Young SVP (JSVP) in 1977, as well as political training courses. The ideology of the Zürich branch was also reinforced, and the rhetoric hardened, which resulted in the best election result for the Zürich branch in fifty years in the 1979 federal election, with an increase from 11.3% to 14.5%. This was contrasted with the stable level in the other cantons, although the support also stagnated in Zürich through the 1980s.[31]

Rise of the new SVP (1990s–present)

The struggle between the SVP's largest branches of Bern and Zürich continued into the early 1990s. While the Bern-oriented faction represented the old moderate style, the Zürich-oriented wing led by Christoph Blocher represented a new radical right-wing populist agenda. The Zürich wing began to politicise asylum issues, and the question of European integration started to dominate Swiss political debates. They also adopted more confrontational methods.[32] The Zürich wing subsequently started to gain ground in the party at the expense of the Bern wing, and the party became increasingly centralised as a national party, in contrast to the traditional Swiss system of parties with loose organisational structures and weak central powers.[33] During the 1990s, the party also doubled its number of cantonal branches (to eventually be represented in all cantons), which strengthened the power of the Zürich wing, since most new sections supported their agenda.[34]

In 1991, the party for the first time became the strongest party in Zürich, with 20.2% of the vote.[35] The party broke through in the early 1990s in both Zürich and Switzerland as a whole, and experienced dramatically increasing results in elections.[36] From being the smallest of the four governing parties at the start of the 1990s, the party by the end of the decade emerged as the strongest party in Switzerland.[37] At the same time, the party expanded its electoral base towards new voter demographics.[38] The SVP in general won its best results in cantons where the cantonal branches adopted the agenda of the Zürich wing.[39] In the 1999 federal election, the SVP for the first time became the strongest party in Switzerland with 22.5% of the vote, a 12.6% share increase. This was the biggest increase of votes for any party in the entire history of the Swiss proportional electoral system, which was introduced in 1919.[40]

As a result of the remarkable increase in the SVP's popularity, the party gained a second ministerial position in the

Federal Council in 2003, which was taken by Christoph Blocher. Before this, the only SVP Federal Councillor had always been from the moderate Bern wing.[note 2][41] The 2007 federal election still confirmed the SVP as the strongest party in Switzerland with 28.9% of the vote and 62 seats in the National Council, the largest share of the vote for any single party ever in Switzerland.[42] However, the Federal Council refused to re-elect Blocher, who was replaced by Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf of the moderate Graubünden branch.[42][43][18] In response, the national SVP withdrew its support from Widmer-Schlumpf and its other Federal Councillor, fellow SVP moderate Samuel Schmid, from the party, along with Widmer-Schlumpf's whole cantonal section.[42][44] The SVP thus formed the first opposition group in Switzerland since the 1950s.[42]

In 2008, the SVP demanded that Widmer-Schlumpf resign from the Federal Council and leave the party. When she refused, the SVP demanded that its Grisons branch expel her. Since Swiss parties are legally federations of cantonal parties, the federal SVP could not expel her itself. The Grisons branch stood by Widmer-Schlumpf, leading the SVP to expel it from the party. Shortly afterward, the Grisons branch reorganised itself as the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP). Soon afterward, virtually all of the SVP's Bern branch, including Schmid, defected to the new party.[44][45] The SVP regained its position in government in late 2008, when Schmid was forced to resign due to a political scandal, and was replaced with Ueli Maurer.[44][46]

The

Federal Council again, with Guy Parmelin replacing Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf after the party's election gains.[51][52]

Percentages of the SVP at district level in 2011

Ideology

The SVP's positions in the Swiss political spectrum (2007).

The SVP adheres to

Switzerland to the European Union, the rejection of military involvement abroad, and the rejection of increases in government spending on social welfare and education. The SVP "does not reject either democracy or the liberal order," and the terms "right-wing populist" or "far-right" are rarely used to describe it in Switzerland.[54][55]

The emphasis of the party's policies lies in foreign policy, immigration and homeland security policy as well as tax and social welfare policy. Among political opponents, the SVP has gained a reputation as a party that maintains a hard-line stance.

Foreign policy

In its foreign policy the SVP opposes the growing involvement of Switzerland in

Swiss army as the institution responsible for national defense. They believe that the army should remain a militia
force and should never become involved in interventions abroad.

In June and July 2010, the party used the

Another key concern of the SVP is what it alleges is an increasing influence of the judiciary on politics. According to the SVP, this influence, especially through international law, increasingly puts the Swiss direct democracy in question. Public law which is legitimate by direct democracy standards should be agreed upon by the federal court. The European law, which according to the SVP is not democratically legitimate, shall always be subordinate to the Swiss law. The SVP also criticises the judiciary as undemocratic because the courts have made decisions against the will of the majority.

Immigration and Islam

Poster, with the slogan "To Create Security", derived from the SVP's 2007 proposal of a new law which would authorise the deportation of criminal foreigners.[61][62]
SVP poster against "uncontrolled" Muslim immigration.

In its immigration policy the party commits itself to make asylum laws stricter and to reduce immigration. The SVP warns of immigration into the social welfare system and criticises the high proportion of foreigners among the

Against mass immigration" (50.3%) in 2010 and 2014 respectively, all injecting counter-jihad policies into the political mainstream.[66]

The 2014 referendum resulted in a narrow victory for the SVP. Following the vote, the Swiss government entered into negotiations with the EU and, in 2016, concluded an agreement that would provide for preferences for Swiss citizens in hiring. The SVP criticized the agreement as weak.[67] In response, in 2020, the party placed the ballot a referendum called the "For Moderate Immigration" initiative, which would terminate the Free Movement of Persons bilateral agreement within one year of passage. It would also bar the government from concluding any agreements that would grant the free movement of people to foreign nationals. The initiative was opposed by the other major parties in Switzerland.[68] Other parties were concerned that because of the "guillotine clause" in the bilateral agreements, this would terminate all of the Bilateral I agreements with the EU which include provisions on the reduction of trade barriers as well as barriers in agriculture, land transport and civil aviation.[69] Swiss voters rejected the referendum with 61.7% against. Only four cantons voted in favor.[70][71]

Economy

The SVP supports supply-side economics. Thus it is a proponent of lower taxes and is against deficit spending. The SVP is not as liberal in terms of its agricultural policy since, in consideration of it being the most popular party among farmers, it refuses to reduce agricultural subsidies or curtail the current system of direct payments to farmers, to ensure larger farming businesses do not dominate the marketplace. The expansion of the Schengen Area eastward was looked at skeptically by the SVP, which it associated with economic immigration and higher crime rates.

Environment

In terms of the environment, transportation and energy policy the SVP opposes governmental measures for

global climate change
.

Social policy

In social welfare policy the SVP rejects expansion of the

Federal Assembly of Switzerland. In its education policy, it opposes tendencies to shift the responsibility of the upbringing of children from families to public institutions. The party claims an excessive influence of anti-authoritarian ideas originating from the protests of 1968. In general, the party supports strengthening crime prevention measures against social crimes and, especially in the areas of social welfare policy and education policy, a return to meritocracy
.

Election results

National Council

Popular vote, 1919–2019. The SVP (until 1971 BGB, in dark green) in 1999 reduced to insignificance the right-wing Swiss Democrats and Freedom Party, which had reached their apex in 1991.
The Swiss People's Party is the largest party in the northeast of the country, including Zürich and Bern, and is the largest party in ten cantonal legislatures (coloured green above, as of 2022).
Map of Swiss cantons shaded by the party that won the most votes in elections to the National Council in 2015. The Swiss People's Party received the most votes in 16 of the 26 Swiss cantons (coloured green above).
Election Votes % Seats +/–
1971 217,908 11.1 (#4)
23 / 200
New
1975 190,445 9.9 (#4)
21 / 200
Decrease 2
1979 210,425 11.6 (#4)
23 / 200
Increase 2
1983 215,457 11.1 (#4)
23 / 200
Steady
1987 211,535 11.0 (#4)
25 / 200
Increase 2
1991 240,353 11.9 (#4)
25 / 200
Steady
1995 280,420 14.9 (#4)
29 / 200
Increase 4
1999 440,159 22.5 (#1)
44 / 200
Increase 15
2003 561,817 26.6 (#1)
55 / 200
Increase 11
2007 672,562 28.9 (#1)
62 / 200
Increase 7
2011 641,106 26.6 (#1)
54 / 200
Decrease 8
2015 740,954 29.4 (#1)
65 / 200
Increase 11
2019 620,343 25.59 (#1)
53 / 200
Decrease 12
2023 713,471 27.93 (#1)
62 / 200
Increase 9

Party strength over time

Canton 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Percentage of the total vote for the Swiss People's Party in Federal Elections 1971–2019[73]
Switzerland 11.1 9.9 11.6 11.1 11.0 11.9 14.9 22.5 26.7 28.9 26.6 29.4 25.6 27.9
Zürich 12.2 11.3 14.5 13.8 15.2 20.2 25.5 32.5 33.4 33.9 29.8 30.7 26.7 27.4
Bern 29.2 27.1 31.5 29.0 27.8 26.3 26.0 28.6 29.6 33.6 29.0 33.1 30.0 30.9
Lucerne *a * * * * * 14.1 22.8 22.9 25.3 25.1 28.5 24.7 25.8
Uri * * * * * * * * 31.3 * * 44.1 36.3 35.3
Schwyz * 3.0 * 6.5 7.6 9.2 21.5 35.9 43.6 45.0 38.0 42.6 36.9 35.9
Obwalden * * * * * * * * 33.6 32.9 43.1 34.5 37.3 52.3
Nidwalden * * * * * * * * * * 45.2 82.8 64.2 40.0
Glarus * * 81.8 92.3 85.6 42.8 * * * 35.1 * * * 42.6
Zug * * * * * * 15.2 21.4 27.7 29.1 28.3 30.5 26.6 30.2
Fribourg 8.7 4.3 6.4 8.8 8.9 9.7 8.3 11.4 21.4 22.0 21.4 25.9 20.2 25.8
Solothurn * * * * * * 6.7 18.6 22.5 27.1 24.3 28.8 25.9 28.7
Basel-Stadt * * * * * 2.0 * 13.6 18.6 18.5 16.5 17.6 12.4 13.6
Basel-Landschaft 11.8 10.7 10.6 11.2 12.0 12.3 10.8 18.0 26.5 28.5 26.9 29.8 25.1 28.9
Schaffhausen * * 21.1 22.6 23.5 19.2 20.4 26.0 28.5 39.1 39.9 45.3 39.5 39.1
Appenzell A.Rh. * * * * * * 22.0 37.5 38.3 * 30.5 36.1 49.5 47.7
Appenzell I.Rh. * * * * * * * 25.7 * * * * 29.1 2.4
St. Gallen * * * 1.9 * * 8.4 27.6 33.1 35.8 31.5 35.8 31.3 34.5
Graubünden 34.0 26.9 21.1 22.0 20.0 19.5 26.9 27.0 33.8 34.7 24.5 29.7 29.9 30.6
Aargau 12.5 12.8 13.9 14.1 15.7 17.9 19.8 31.8 34.6 36.2 34.7 38.0 31.5 35.5
Thurgau 26.0 25.1 26.4 22.8 21.7 23.7 27.0 33.2 41.0 42.3 38.7 39.9 36.7 40.3
Ticino 2.4 * 2.3 2.1 1.3 1.0 1.5 5.3 7.6 8.7 9.7 11.3 11.7 15.1
Vaud 7.7 8.0 6.8 6.2 6.2 7.3 7.8 10.7 20.3 22.4 22.9 22.6 17.4 19.2
Valais * * * * * * * 9.0 13.4 16.6 19.7 22.1 19.8 24.5
Neuchâtel * * * * * * * * 22.5 23.2 21.4 20.4 12.7 17.3
Genève * * * * * 1.1 * 7.5 18.3 21.1 16.0 17.6 13.7 15.3
Jura b b * 2.0 * * * 7.2 8.3 13.7 15.5 12.8 14.5 19.1
1.^a * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton.
2.^b Part of the Canton of Bern until 1979.

Leadership

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Swiss People's Party is not an official member of any pan-European political party, but its three members in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe sit with ALDE-PACE, and its youth wing is a member of the European Young Conservatives.
  2. Federal Council
    are assigned according to each of the four major parties' shares of the latest general election.

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  • Bibliography

    External links