The Swiss People's Party (German: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (Italian: Unione Democratica di Centro, French: Union démocratique du centre, UDC), is a national conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 54 members of the National Council and 5 of the Council of States.
The SVP was founded in 1971 by the merger of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB) and the Democratic Party, while the BGB in turn had been founded on the background of the emerging local farmers' parties in the late 1910s. The SVP initially didn't witness any increased support beyond that of the BGB, remaining at 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, turning the party to become the strongest party in Switzerland by the 2000s.
In line with the changes led by Blocher, the party started to focus increasingly on issues such as euroscepticism and opposition to immigration. The SVP currently has 54 seats in the Federal Assembly, and its vote share of 29% in the 2007 Federal Council election was the highest vote ever recorded for a single party in Switzerland. Following Blocher's failed re-election as Federal Councillor in 2007, moderates within the party split off, forming the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP). The party does not belong to any Europe-wide party, but sits with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in PACE.
Read more about Swiss People's Party: Ideology, Leadership
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