Political Parties and Elections
For other political parties see List of political parties in Switzerland. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Switzerland.Switzerland has a rich party landscape. The five parties represented in the Federal Council are generally called the government parties: Free Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Party, Swiss People's Party, and Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland.
As of 2011 only the five government parties were represented in the Council of States. In the National Council the party landscape is more diverse with eight non-government parties having at least one seat.
| Parties | Abbr. | Alignment | Ideology | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss People's Party | SVP/UDC | Right-wing | National conservatism | 648,675 | 26.6 | −2.3 | 54 | −8 | |
| Social Democratic Party | SPS/PSS | Left-wing | Social democracy | 457,317 | 18.7 | −0.8 | 46 | +3 | |
| FDP.The Liberals | FDP/PLR | Centre-right | Classical liberalism | 368,951 | 15.1 | −2.5 | 30 | −5 | |
| Christian Democratic People's Party | CVP/PDC | Centre | Christian democracy | 300,544 | 12.3 | −2.2 | 28 | −3 | |
| Green Party | GPS/PES | Left-wing | Green politics | 205,984 | 8.4 | −1.2 | 15 | −5 | |
| Conservative Democratic Party | BDP/PBD | Centre-right | Conservatism / economic liberalism | 132,279 | 5.4 | New | 9 | New | |
| Green Liberal Party | GLP/PVL | Centre | Green liberalism | 131,436 | 5.4 | +4.0 | 12 | +9 | |
| Evangelical People's Party | EVP/PEV | Centre | Christian democracy | 48,789 | 2.0 | −0.4 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Federal Democratic Union | EDU/UDF | Right-wing | Christian right | 31,056 | 1.3 | ±0 | 0 | −1 | |
| Alternative Left (Party of Labour, solidaritéS) | LIN/GAU | Far-left | Socialism / communism | 21,482 | 0.9 | −0.2 | 0 | −1 | |
| Ticino League | LdT | Right-wing | Regionalism / Right-wing populism | 19,657 | 0.8 | +0.3 | 2 | +1 | |
| Geneva Citizens' Movement | MCG | Right-wing | Regionalism / Right-wing populism | 10,714 | 0.4 | +0.3 | 1 | +1 | |
| Christian Social Party | CSP/PCS | Left-wing | Christian left | 6,248 | 0.3 | -0.2 | 1 | ±0 | |
| Other | 54,622 | 2.2 | |||||||
| Total (turnout 48.5%) | 2,442,648 | — | — | 200 | — | ||||
| Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (French) | |||||||||
| Parties | Ideology | 2007 | Seats | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) | Christian democracy | 15 | 13 | -2 | |
| FDP.The Liberals (FDP/PRD) | Classical liberalism | 12 | 11 | -1 | |
| Social Democratic Party (SPS/PSS) | Social democracy | 9 | 11 | +2 | |
| Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) | National conservatism | 7 | 5 | -2 | |
| Green Party (GPS/PES) | Green politics | 2 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Green Liberal Party (GLP/VL) | Green liberalism | 1 | 2 | +1 | |
| Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) | Conservatism / Economic liberalism | 0 | 1 | +1 | |
| Independent | Independent | 0 | 1 | +1 | |
| Total | 46 | 46 | |||
| Source: http://www.politik-stat.ch/srw2011CH_de.html | |||||
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Switzerland
Famous quotes containing the words political parties, political, parties and/or elections:
“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.”
—John Arbuthnot (1667–1735)
“The political core of any movement for freedom in the society has to have the political imperative to protect free speech.”
—bell hooks (b. 1955)
“Men are to be guided only by their self-interests. Good government is a good balancing of these; and, except a keen eye and appetite for self-interest, requires no virtue in any quarter. To both parties it is emphatically a machine: to the discontented, a “taxing- machine;” to the contented, a “machine for securing property.” Its duties and its faults are not those of a father, but of an active parish-constable.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)