Swiss People's Party
Swiss People's Party / Democratic Union of the Centre
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^ A: The party has also been described as far-right.[10][11][12][13] |
The Swiss People's Party (
The SVP originated in 1971 as a merger of the
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[update], 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
In 1936, a representative party was founded on the national level, called the
The BGB contributed strongly to the establishment of the Swiss national ideology known as the
Early years (1971–1980s)
In 1971, the BGB changed its name to the Swiss People's Party (SVP) after it merged with the
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
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
Ideology
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2016) |
The SVP adheres to
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
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
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
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
Social policy
In social welfare policy the SVP rejects expansion of the
Election results
National Council
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | 217,908 | 11.1 (#4) | 23 / 200
|
New |
1975 | 190,445 | 9.9 (#4) | 21 / 200
|
2 |
1979 | 210,425 | 11.6 (#4) | 23 / 200
|
2 |
1983 | 215,457 | 11.1 (#4) | 23 / 200
|
|
1987 | 211,535 | 11.0 (#4) | 25 / 200
|
2 |
1991 | 240,353 | 11.9 (#4) | 25 / 200
|
|
1995 | 280,420 | 14.9 (#4) | 29 / 200
|
4 |
1999 | 440,159 | 22.5 (#1) | 44 / 200
|
15 |
2003 | 561,817 | 26.6 (#1) | 55 / 200
|
11 |
2007 | 672,562 | 28.9 (#1) | 62 / 200
|
7 |
2011 | 641,106 | 26.6 (#1) | 54 / 200
|
8 |
2015 | 740,954 | 29.4 (#1) | 65 / 200
|
11 |
2019 | 620,343 | 25.59 (#1) | 53 / 200
|
12 |
2023 | 713,471 | 27.93 (#1) | 62 / 200
|
9 |
Party strength over time
Canton | 1971 | 1975 | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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
- Hans Conzett (1971–1976)
- Fritz Hofmann (1976–1984)
- Adolf Ogi (1984–1988)
- Hans Uhlmann (1988–1995)
- Ueli Maurer (1996–2008)
- Toni Brunner (2008–2016)
- Albert Rösti (2016–2020)
- Marco Chiesa (2020–2024)
- Marcel Dettling (2024-present)
See also
Notes
- ^ 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.
- Federal Councilare assigned according to each of the four major parties' shares of the latest general election.
References
- ^ The Swiss Confederation — A Brief Guide. Federal Chancellery. 2015. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- ^ Skenderovic 2009, p. 124: "... and prefers to use terms such as 'national-conservative' or 'conservative-right' in defining the SVP. In particular, 'national-conservative' has gained prominence among the definitions used in Swiss research on the SVP.".
- ^ a b Geden 2006, p. 95.
- ^ Skenderovic 2009, pp. 9, 123–172.
- ISBN 9780754648512
- ISBN 978-1-4527-0409-8. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-19-925835-2.
- ISBN 9781412904094.. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- Koltrowitz, Silke (23 September 2020). "Judge under fire from Swiss right-wing party wins re-election". Reuters. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
The Swiss parliament re-elected supreme court judge Yves Donzallaz on Wednesday after attempts by his right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) to oust him triggered a wave of protests.
- "Right-Wing People's Party Win Swiss Elections". Deutsche Welle. 22 October 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
The right-wing People's Party (SVP) emerged as the victor in the Swiss elections, taking 29 percent of the vote.
- "Anti-immigration SVP wins Swiss election in big swing to right". BBC News
The right-wing, anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP) has won Switzerland's parliamentary election with a record 29.4% of the vote.
- Koltrowitz, Silke (23 September 2020). "Judge under fire from Swiss right-wing party wins re-election". Reuters. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
The far-right Swiss People's Party also called for 'strict border control immediately'.
The vote was put on the agenda by the far-right People's party, which is the largest in parliament and has two of seven seats in the federal cabinet.
President Ueli Mauer of the far-right Swiss People's Party is seeking to meet von der Leyen, whom he knows from when both were defense ministers of their neighboring countries.
Bibliography
- Geden, Oliver (2006). Diskursstrategien im Rechtspopulismus: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs und Schweizerische Volkspartei zwischen Opposition und Regierungsbeteiligung. VS Verlag. ISBN 978-3-531-15127-4.
- Skenderovic, Damir (2009). The radical right in Switzerland: continuity and change, 1945-2000. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-84545-580-4.
- Cormon, Pierre (2014). Swiss Politics for Complete Beginners. Editions Slatkine. ISBN 978-2-8321-0607-5. Archived from the originalon 4 November 2014.
External links
- svp.ch (in German, French, and Italian)
- Swiss People`s Party in History of Social Security in Switzerland