List of political parties in Switzerland

The political positions of the voters and leaders of the five major parties (2007).

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.

Federal and cantonal parliaments

The following parties are represented either in the Swiss Federal Assembly or in cantonal parliaments:

Party					Members in					Political Position
Abbr.	Name		W	Leader	FC	CS	NC	Cantons	Members	(Ideology)
SVP/UDC		Swiss People's Party	[1]	Toni Brunner	1	5	54	563	90,000	Right-wing populism, National conservatism
SPS/PSS		Social Democratic Party	[2]	Christian Levrat	2	11	46	446	35,000	Centre-left, Social democracy
FDP/PLR		FDP.The Liberals	[3]	Fulvio Pelli	2	11	30	553	130,000	Centre-right, Classical liberalism
CVP/PDC/PPD		Christian Democratic People's Party	[4]	Christophe Darbellay	1	13	28	480	100,000	Centrism, Christian democracy
BDP/PBD		Conservative Democratic Party	[5]	Hans Grunder	1	1	9	75	6,500	Centre-right, Conservative liberalism
GPS/PES		Green Party	[6]	Ueli Leuenberger	0	2	15	195	6,500	Centre-left, Green politics
GLP/PVL		Green Liberal Party	[7]	Martin Bäumle	0	2	12	54	2,700	Centrism, Green liberalism
EVP/PEV		Evangelical People's Party	[8]	Heiner Studer	0	0	2	45	4,800	Centrism, Christian democracy
CSP/PCS		Christian Social Party	[9]	Marius Achermann	0	0	1	24	1,500	Centre-left, Christian left
Lega		Ticino League	[10]	Giuliano Bignasca	0	0	2	21	1,500	Right-wing, Regionalism (TI)
EDU/UDF		Federal Democratic Union	[11]	Hans Moser	0	0	0	16	3,000	Right-wing, Evangelicalism
AL		Alternative Left	[12]		0	0	0	6	2,000	Left-wing, Democratic socialism
SLB/MSL		Social Liberal Movement	[13]	Samuel Schmid	0	0	0	1		Social conservatism
MCG		Geneva Citizens' Movement	[14]	Éric Stauffer	0	0	1	17		Right-wing, Regionalism (GE)
PdA/PST		Swiss Party of Labour	[15]	Norberto Crivelli	0	0	0	14		Left-wing, Communism
Sol		solidaritéS			0	0	0	5		Democratic socialism
SD/DS		Swiss Democrats	[16]	Bernhard Hess	0	0	0	2		Right-wing, National conservatism
Total					7	46*	200	2559

Notes: ¹ Federal Council since 2009; ² Council of States, 2011; ³ National Council 2011; * Including one independent member of the Council of States (Thomas Minder)

Minor groups

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

Abbr.	Name		W	Leader	Ideology	Founded	Popular vote
FPS/PSL		Freedom Party	[17]	Peter Commarmot	Right-wing, National liberalism	1984	n/a
HPS/PHS		Swiss Humanist Party	[18]	Daniel Horowitz	Humanist Movement	1984	n/a
KVP		Catholic People's Party	[19]	Lukas Brühwiler-Frésey	Catholic social teaching	1994	n/a
PNOS		Swiss Nationalist Party	[20]	Dominic Lüthard	Far-right, Ethnic nationalism	2000	0.05%
PPS		Pirate Party	[21]	Denis Simonet	Freedom of Information, Information privacy	2009	0.48%
TPS/PSpA		Tierpartei Schweiz	[22]	Thomas Märki	Animal rights	2010	0.15%
		parteifrei.ch	[23]	Lukas Harder	Voluntary association of independent politicians formed for the 2011 elections; opposing party politics	2011	0.19%
		MontagnaViva	[24]	Germano Mattei	Regionalism (Alpine Ticino)	2011	0.08%
		Alpenparlament	[25]		Alternative medicine	2011	0.06%
		Konfessionslose.ch	[26]		Separation of church and state	2011	0.05%
		Volksaktion	[27]		right-wing populism (Basel-Stadt)	2002	0.03%
		La gauche combative	[28]		Communism (Geneva)	2002	0.03%
		Les Rauraques	[29]		Separatism (Bernese Jura)	2011	0.03%

Historical parties

Name	Ideology	Active	Continued as
Communist Party of Switzerland	Communism	1921–1940	Partei der Arbeit
Communist Party of Switzerland/Marxist–Leninists	Communism	1969–1987	Libertarian Socialist Party
Communist Party Opposition	Communism	1930–1925	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
Democratic Party	Direct democracy	1860–1971	Swiss People's Party
Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB)	Centrism, Agrarianism	1936–1971	Swiss People's Party
Eidgenössische Sammlung	Fascism/nationalism	1940–1943
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP/PRD/PLR)	Classical liberalism, Radicalism	1894–2009	FDP.The Liberals
Liberal Party of Switzerland (LPS/PLS)	Classical liberalism	1913–2009	FDP.The Liberals
National Front	Fascism/nationalism	1930s	Eidgenössische Sammlung
National Movement of Switzerland (NBS)	Nazism	1940–1941
National Union	Fascism/nationalism	1932–1940
Progressive Organizations of Switzerland (POCH)	Communism	1969–1993
Ring of Independents (LdU)	Centrism	1936–1999
Volkspartei der Schweiz (VPS)	Neo-Nazism	1950s

Names in the national languages

Abbr.	Party	German name	French	Italian	Romansh
CVP/PDC	Christian Democratic People's Party	Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei der Schweiz or CVP	Parti Démocrate-Chrétien Suisse or PDC	Partito Popolare Democratico or PPD	Partida Cristian-democratica de la Svizra or PCD
FDP/PRD	Free Democratic Party	Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz or FDP	Parti radical-démocratique suisse or PRD	Partito Liberale Radicale or PLR	Partida liberaldemocrata de la Svizra or PLD
SPS/PSS	Social Democratic Party	Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz or SP	Parti Socialiste Suisse or PSS	Partito Socialista Svizzero or PSS	Partida Socialdemocratica de la Svizra or PSS
SVP/UDC	Swiss People's Party	Schweizerische Volkspartei or SVP	Union Démocratique du Centre or UDC	Unione Democratica di Centro or UDC	Partida Populara Svizra or PPS
CSP/PCS	Christian Social Party	Christlich-soziale Partei or CSP	Parti chrétien-social or PCS	Partito Cristiano Sociale or PCS	Partida cristiansociala de la Svizra or PCS
BDP/PBD	Conservative Democratic Party	Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz or BDP	Parti bourgeois démocratique Suisse or PBD	Partito borghese democratico Svizzera or PBD	Partida burgais democratica Svizra or PBD
EVP/PEV	Evangelical People's Party	Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz or EVP	Parti Evangelique Suisse or PEV	Partito Evangelico or PE	Partida Evangelica Svizra or PEV
FPS/PSL	Freedom Party	Freiheits-Partei der Schweiz or FPS	Parti Suisse de la Liberté or PSL	Partito svizzero della Libertà or PSL	Partida Svizra da la Libertad or PSL
GPS/PES	Green Party	Grüne Partei der Schweiz or Grüne	Parti Ecologiste Suisse or Les Verts	Partito Ecologista Svizzero or I Verdi	Partida Ecologica Svizra or La Verda
LPS/PLS	Liberal Party	Liberale Partei der Schweiz or LPS	Parti libéral suisse or PLS	Partito Liberale Svizzero or PLS	Partida liberal-conservativa Svizra or PLC
SD/DS	Swiss Democrats	Schweizer Demokraten or SD	Démocrates Suisses or DS	Democratici Svizzeri or DS	Democrats Svizzers or DS
Lega	Ticino League			Lega dei Ticinesi
EDU/UDF	Federal Democratic Union	Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union or EDU	Union Démocratique Fédérale or UDF	Unione Democratica Federale or UDF	Uniun democrata federala or UDF
PdA/PST	Swiss Party of Labour	Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz or PdA	Parti suisse du travail - Parti Ouvrier et Populaire or PST-POP	Partito Comunista or PC	Partida svizra da la lavur or PSdL

Sources: The Swiss Federal Chancellery

References

• Federal Chancellery

See also

• Politics of Switzerland
• List of political parties by country

Political parties in Switzerland Government Christian Democratic People's Party · Conservative Democrats · FDP.The Liberals · Social Democratic Party · Swiss People's Party Other parties in the Federal Assembly Green Party · Green Liberal Party · Evangelical People's Party · Ticino League · Christian Social Party · Geneva Citizens' Movement Other parties Alternative Left · Alternative List · Federal Democratic Union · Freedom Party · Pirate Party · Social Liberal Movement · solidaritéS · Swiss Democrats · Swiss Nationalist Party · Swiss Party of Labour Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of Switzerland