List of political parties in Switzerland: Difference between revisions

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This is a list of political parties in Switzerland.

Switzerland has a multi-party system. Since 1959, the four largest parties have formed a coalition government, according to a Zauberformel or "magic formula". This arithmetic formula divides the seven cabinet seats among representatives of the four largest parties.^[1]

Political parties in Switzerland[edit]

Federal and cantonal parliaments[edit]

The following parties are represented either in the Swiss Federal Assembly as of 2022 or in cantonal parliaments and executive councils as of 2021.^[2] For their names in the four national languages of Switzerland, see #Names in the national languages below.

For more detailed information on the political positions of some of the parties listed below, see here:^[3] For Swiss political party strength on the municipal level, see here:^[4]

Party			Website	Leader	Main ideology	Position	Members in
Party			Website	Leader	Main ideology	Position	Federal Council	Council of States	National Council	Cantonal executives	Cantonal legislatures	Members
	SVP/UDC	Swiss People's Party	svp.ch	Marco Chiesa	National conservatism	Right-wing	2 / 7	7 / 46	53 / 200	26 / 154	554 / 2,594	90,000 (2015)^[5]
	SP/PS	Social Democratic Party	sp-ps.ch	Cédric Wermuth Mattea Meyer	Social democracy	Centre-left	2 / 7	6 / 46	39 / 200	30 / 154	438 / 2,594	30,000 (2015)^[5]
	FDP/PLR	FDP.The Liberals	fdp.ch	Thierry Burkart	Classical liberalism	Centre to centre-right	2 / 7	12 / 46	29 / 200	36 / 154 ^[a]	507 / 2,594 ^[a]	120,000 (2015)^[5]
	DM/LC/AdC	The Centre	die-mitte.ch	Gerhard Pfister	Christian democracy	Centre to centre-right	1 / 7	14 / 46	28 / 200	39 / 154	424 / 2,594	-

	GPS/PES	Green Party	gruene.ch	Balthasar Glättli	Green politics	Centre-left to left-wing	0 / 7	5 / 46	28 / 200	7 / 154	258 / 2,594	7,500 (2015)^[5]
	GLP/PVL	Green Liberal Party	grunliberale.ch	Jürg Grossen	Green liberalism	Centre	0 / 7	0 / 46	16 / 200	2 / 154	157 / 2,594	3,800 (2015)^[5]
	EVP/PEV	Evangelical People's Party	evppev.ch	Lilian Studer	Christian democracy	Centre	0 / 7	0 / 46	3 / 200	1 / 154	42 / 2,594	4,600 (2015)^[5]
	Lega	Ticino League	lega-dei-ticinesi.ch	Attilio Bignasca	Ticino regionalism	Right-wing	0 / 7	0 / 46	1 / 200	2 / 154	14 / 2,594	1,500 (2015)^[5]
	CSP OW	Christian Social Party of Obwalden	csp-ow.ch	Christian Schäli Sepp Stalder	Christian left	Centre-left	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 154	1 / 154	6 / 2,594	250 (2015)^[5]
	PdA/PST/POP	Swiss Party of Labour	pst-pop.ch	Norberto Crivelli	Communism	Left-wing^[6] to far-left	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 200	0 / 154	13 / 2,594
	MCG	Geneva Citizens' Movement	mcge.ch	Ana Roch	Geneva regionalism	Right-wing	0 / 7	1 / 46	0 / 200	0 / 154	14 / 2,594	1,500 (2015)^[5]
	Sol	Solidarity	solidarites.ch	–	Anti-capitalism	Left-wing to far-left	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 200	1 / 154	0 / 2,594
	EDU/UDF	Federal Democratic Union	edu-schweiz.ch	Hans Moser	Right-wing populism	Right-wing	0 / 7	0 / 46	1 / 200	0 / 154	19 / 2,594	3,000 (2011)^[7]
	CSP/PCS	Christian Social Party	csp-pcs.ch	Marius Achermann	Christian left	Centre-left	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 200	1 / 154	14 / 2,594	1,500 (2011)^[7]
	AL-ZH	Alternative List	al-zh.ch	–	Socialism	Left-wing	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 200	0 / 154	0 / 2,594
	AL-BE	Alternative Left Bern	al-be.ch	–	Democratic socialism	Left-wing	0 / 7	0 / 46	0 / 200	0 / 154	10 / 2,594	2,000 (2011)^[7]
Total							7	46^[b]	200	154^[c]^[8]	2594^[d]^[9]

Minor parties[edit]

The following groups or parties are not represented at either the cantonal or national level (but may hold positions in municipal parliaments).

Abbr.		W	Leader	Ideology	Founded	Popular vote^[e]
PPS	Pirate Party	[1]	Denis Simonet	Pirate politics, liberalism	2009	0.27% (2019)
SD/DS	Swiss Democrats	[2]	Bernhard Hess	Right-wing, national conservatism	1961	0.13% (2019)
SLB/MSL	Social Liberal Movement	[3]	Samuel Schmid	Centre-right, social conservatism	2011	0.1% (2015)
LP/PL	Libertarian Party	[4]	Simon Scherrer	Libertarianism	2014	0.01% (2019)
FPS/PSL	Freedom Party	[5]	Peter Commarmot	Right-wing, national liberalism	1984	n/a
HPS/PHS	Swiss Humanist Party	[6]	Daniel Horowitz	Humanist Movement	1984	n/a
KVP	Catholic People's Party	[7]	Lukas Brühwiler-Frésey	Catholic social teaching	1994	n/a
TPS/PSpA	Tierpartei Schweiz	[8]	Thomas Märki	Animal rights	2010	0.15% (2015)
	Parteifrei	[9]	Lukas Harder	Voluntary association of independent politicians formed for the 2011 elections; opposing party politics	2011	0.19% (2015)
	MontagnaViva	[10]	Germano Mattei	Regionalism (Alpine Ticino)	2011	0.08% (2015)
	Alpenparlament	[11]		Alternative medicine	2011	0.06% (2015)
	Konfessionslose	[12]		Separation of church and state	2011	0.05% (2015)
	Volksaktion	[13]	Eric Weber	Right-wing populism (Basel-Stadt)	2002	0.03% (2015)
	La gauche combative	[14]		Communism (Geneva)	2002	0.03% (2015)
	Les Rauraques	[15]		Jura separatism (Bernese Jura)	2011	0.03% (2015)

Historical parties[edit]

	Ideology	Active	Continued as
Christian Democratic People's Party	Christian democracy, Social conservatism, Support for EU Bilateral Accords	1912–2020	merged to The Centre
Communist Party of Switzerland	Communism	1921–1940	Swiss Party of Labour
Communist Party of Switzerland/Marxist–Leninists	Communism	1969–1987	Libertarian Socialist Party
Communist Party Opposition	Communism	1930–1935	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
Conservative Democratic Party	Centre to Centre-right, Conservative liberalism	2008-2020	merged to The Centre
Democratic Party	Direct democracy	1860–1971	merged to Swiss People's Party
Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB)	Conservatism, Agrarianism	1936–1971	merged to Swiss People's Party
Eidgenössische Sammlung	Fascism	1940–1943
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP/PRD/PLR)	Classical liberalism, Radicalism	1894–2009	merged to The Liberals
Liberal Party of Switzerland (LPS/PLS)	Classical liberalism	1913–2009	merged to The Liberals
National Front	Fascism/nationalism	1930s	Eidgenössische Sammlung
National Movement of Switzerland (NBS)	Nazism	1940–1941
National Union	Fascism	1932–1940
Progressive Organizations of Switzerland (POCH)	Communism	1969–1993
Republican Movement	Right-wing populism, Christian right	1971–1989
Ring of Independents (LdU)	Centrism	1936–1999
Swiss Nationalist Party	Far-right, ethnic nationalism	2000–2022
Volkspartei der Schweiz (VPS)	Neo-Nazism	1950s

Names in the national languages[edit]

Abbr.		German	French	Italian	Romansh
SVP/UDC	Swiss People's Party	Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP)	Union démocratique du Centre (UDC)	Unione Democratica di Centro (UDC)	Partida populara Svizra (PPS)
SP/PS	Social Democratic Party	Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz (SP)	Parti socialiste suisse (PS)	Partito Socialista Svizzero (PS)	Partida socialdemocratica da la Svizra (PS)
FDP/PRD	Free Democratic Party	Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz (FDP)	Parti radical-démocratique suisse (PRD)	Partito Liberale Radicale (PLR)	Partida liberaldemocrata da la Svizra (PLD)
Mitte/Centre	The Centre	Die Mitte (DM)	Le Centre (LC)	Alleanza del Centro (AdC)	Allianza dal Center (AdC)

GPS/PES	Green Party	Grüne Partei der Schweiz (Die Grünen)	Parti écologiste suisse (Les Verts)	Partito Ecologista Svizzero (I Verdi)	Partida ecologica svizra (Ils Verds)
CSP/PCS	Christian Social Party	Christlich-soziale Partei (CSP)	Parti chrétien-social (PCS)	Partito Cristiano Sociale (PCS)	Partida cristiansociala da la Svizra (PCS)
CVP/PDC	Christian Democratic People's Party	Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei der Schweiz (CVP)	Parti démocrate-chrétien suisse (PDC)	Partito Popolare Democratico (PPD)	Partida Cristian-democratica da la Svizra (PCD)
BDP/PBD	Conservative Democratic Party	Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz (BDP)	Parti bourgeois démocratique Suisse (PBD)	Partito borghese democratico Svizzera (PBD)	Partida burgais democratica Svizra (PBD)
EVP/PEV	Evangelical People's Party	Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz (EVP)	Parti évangelique suisse (PEV)	Partito Evangelico Svizzero (PE)	Partida evangelica svizra (PEV)
FPS/PSL	Freedom Party	Freiheits-Partei der Schweiz (FPS)	Parti suisse de la liberté (PSL)	Partito svizzero della Libertà (PSL)	Partida svizra da la libertad (PSL)
LPS/PLS	Liberal Party	Liberale Partei der Schweiz (LPS)	Parti libéral suisse (PLS)	Partito Liberale Svizzero (PLS)	Partida liberal-conservativa Svizra (PLC)
AL	Alternative Left	Alternative Linke (AL)	La Gauche (LG)	La Sinistra (LS)	Alternativa sanestra (AS)
SD/DS	Swiss Democrats	Schweizer Demokraten (SD)	Démocrates suisses (DS)	Democratici Svizzeri (DS)	Democrats svizers (DS)
Lega	Ticino League	Liga der Tessiner	Ligue des Tessinois	Lega dei Ticinesi	Liga dals Tessinais
EDU/UDF	Federal Democratic Union	Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union (EDU)	Union démocratique fédérale (UDF)	Unione Democratica Federale (UDF)	Uniun democrata federala (UDF)
PdA/PST	Swiss Party of Labour	Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz (PdA)	Parti suisse du travail – Parti ouvrier et populaire (PST-POP)	Partito Svizzero del Lavoro – Partito Operaio e Popolare (PC)	Partida svizra da la lavur (PdL)
GLP/PVL	Green Liberal Party	Grünliberale Partei der Schweiz (GLP)	Parti vert'libéral (PVL)	Partito Verde Liberale (PVL)	Partida verda-liberala (PVL)
MCG	Geneva Citizens' Movement	Genfer Bürgerbewegung	Mouvement citoyens genevois (MCG)	Movimento dei Cittadini Ginevrini
CSP OW	Christian Social Party of Obwalden	Christlichsoziale Partei Obwalden (CSP OW)	Parti chrétien-social d'Obwald
Sol	Solidarity	Solidarität	solidaritéS	Solidarità	Solidaritad
SLB/MSL	Social Liberal Movement	Sozial-Liberale Bewegung	Mouvement socio-libéral	Movimento social-liberale
SD/DS	Swiss Democrats	Schweizer Demokraten (SD)	Démocrates suisses (DS)	Democratici Svizzeri (DS)	Democrats svizers (DS)
FPS/PSL	Freedom Party	Freiheits-Partei der Schweiz	Parti suisse de la liberté	Partito svizzero della Libertà	Partida Svizra da la Libertad
HPS/PHS	Swiss Humanist Party	Humanistische Partei der Schweiz	Parti Humaniste de la Suisse	Partito Umanista della Svizzera	Partida umanistica da la Svizra
KVP	Catholic People's Party	Katholische Volkspartei	Parti populaire catholique	Partito Popolare Cattolico	Partida populara catolica
PPS	Pirate Party	Piratenpartei Schweiz	Parti Pirate Suisse	Partito Pirata Svizzera	Partida da Pirats Svizra
TPS/PSpA	Tierpartei Schweiz	Tierpartei Schweiz (TPS)	Parti suisse pour les animaux (PSpA)	Partito svizzero per gli animali (PSpA)	Partida svizra d'animals (PSA)
up!	The Swiss Independence Party up!	Unabhängigkeitspartei up!	Parti suisse de l'indépendance	up! Switzerland

Sources: The Swiss Federal Chancellery

Relative importance[edit]

At the federal level[edit]

Composition of the National Council by political party, 1919–2019
Composition of the Federal Council by political party, 1919–2017

Overall[edit]

Number of elected representatives by party at the federal, cantonal and communal levels in 2014 (governmental parties)^[10]
Party	Number of elected representatives at the federal, cantonal and communal levels
FDP.The Liberals	2,011
Social Democratic Party	1,863
Swiss People's Party	1,511
Christian Democratic Party	1,205
Conservative Democratic Party	173

Notes[edit]

^ ^a ^b Includes seats held by the FDP and by the Liberal Party in Vaud and Valais where cantonal parties did not merge and retained separate structures
^ Including one independent member of the Council of States (Thomas Minder).
^ Cantonal executives As of 2022^[update]
^ Cantonal legislatures As of 2021^[update], including independents and small minor parties.
^ 2011 Swiss federal election, where applicable

References[edit]

^ Pierre Cormon, Swiss Politics for Complete Beginners, Editions Slatkine, 2014, ISBN 978-2-8321-0607-5, p. 31–32 Archived November 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
^ Office fédéral de la statistique. "Élections aux parlements cantonaux". www.bfs.admin.ch (in French). Retrieved 2023-01-03.
^ "Swiss Political Parties Reveal Their Colours". Swissinfo. September 11, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
^ "Gemeindewahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "The Swiss Confederation — A Brief Guide" (PDF). Federal Chancellery. 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
^ Barbet, Denis; Bonhomme, Marc (2006). La politique mise au Net. ENS Editions. ISBN 9782847880953.
^ ^a ^b ^c Der Bund kurz erklärt (in German). Swiss Confederation. 2011. p. 21. Archived from the original on 2012-01-24.
^ "Kantonale Regierungswahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
^ "Kantonale Parlamentswahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
^ Kevin Gertsch; Chantal Tauxe (24 December 2014). "L'UDC n'est pas le premier parti de Suisse" [The UDC is not the largest party in Switzerland]. L'Hebdo. pp. 62–63.

Bibliography[edit]

Pierre Cormon, Swiss Politics for Complete Beginners, Editions Slatkine, 2014. ISBN 978-2-8321-0607-5

External links[edit]

Federal Chancellery

[fdp-liberals-nonmerged-6] Includes seats held by the FDP and by the Liberal Party in Vaud and Valais where cantonal parties did not merge and retained separate structures

[9] Including one independent member of the Council of States (Thomas Minder).

[10] Cantonal executives As of 2022^[update]

[12] Cantonal legislatures As of 2021^[update], including independents and small minor parties.

[14] 2011 Swiss federal election, where applicable

[Cormon-1] Pierre Cormon, Swiss Politics for Complete Beginners, Editions Slatkine, 2014, ISBN 978-2-8321-0607-5, p. 31–32 Archived November 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

[2] Office fédéral de la statistique. "Élections aux parlements cantonaux". www.bfs.admin.ch (in French). Retrieved 2023-01-03.

[Colours-3] "Swiss Political Parties Reveal Their Colours". Swissinfo. September 11, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2015.

[4] "Gemeindewahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.

[BriefGuide2015-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "The Swiss Confederation — A Brief Guide" (PDF). Federal Chancellery. 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2016.

[7] Barbet, Denis; Bonhomme, Marc (2006). La politique mise au Net. ENS Editions. ISBN 9782847880953.

[Membership2011-8] Der Bund kurz erklärt (in German). Swiss Confederation. 2011. p. 21. Archived from the original on 2012-01-24.

[11] "Kantonale Regierungswahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.

[13] "Kantonale Parlamentswahlen" (in German). Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved December 11, 2016.

[15] Kevin Gertsch; Chantal Tauxe (24 December 2014). "L'UDC n'est pas le premier parti de Suisse" [The UDC is not the largest party in Switzerland]. L'Hebdo. pp. 62–63.

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v t e List of political parties in Europe
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