Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

Free Democratic Party Of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party (German: Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei, French: Parti radical-démocratique, Italian: Partito liberale-radicale svizzero, Romansh: Partida liberaldemocrata svizra) was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009.

The FDP was formed in 1894 from the Radicals, who had dominated Swiss politics since the 1830s, standing in in opposition to the Catholic conservatives, and who from the creation of the federal state in 1848 until 1891 formed the federal government.

The FDP remained dominant until the introduction of proportional representation in 1919. From 1945 to 1987, it alternated with the Social Democratic Party to be the largest party. In 1959, the party took two seats in the magic formula. The party declined in the 1990s and 2000s (decade), as it was put under pressure by the Swiss People's Party. In response, the party formed closer relations with the smaller Liberal Party, leading to their formal merger in 2009.

Read more about Free Democratic Party Of Switzerland:  History, Popular Support, List of Party Presidents

Famous quotes containing the words free, democratic, party and/or switzerland:

    All one needs to do is declare oneself free and one will immediately feel dependent. If you dare to declare yourself dependent, you feel independent.
    Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)

    That’s free enterprise, friends: freedom to gamble, freedom to lose. And the great thing—the truly democratic thing about it—is that you don’t even have to be a player to lose.
    Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)

    The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the setting—the war and the revolution—and the character of the accused—revolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign power—you can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history.
    Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)

    I look upon Switzerland as an inferior sort of Scotland.
    Sydney Smith (1771–1845)