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Libertarian Party (Switzerland)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Libertarian Party
Libertäre Partei (German)
Parti Libertarien (French)
Partito Libertario (Italian)
PresidentSimon Scherrer
Founded18 June 2014; 10 years ago (2014-06-18)
IdeologyRight-libertarianism
Minarchism
Hard Euroscepticism
Political positionRight-wing
International affiliationInternational Alliance of Libertarian Parties
Colors  Yellow
Website
libertaere-partei.ch

The Libertarian Party is a libertarian political party in Switzerland formed on 18 June 2014. It was founded as The Swiss Independence Party up!, also known as up! Switzerland. It is the main founder of the International Alliance of Libertarian Parties. It took on its current name in March 2021.

History

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The Libertarian Party was founded in 2014 by Simon Scherrer, Silvan Amberg and Brenda Mäder.[1] The announcement received quite a broad media attention due to its founder Brenda being the former president of the Young Liberals.[2] In 2015, the party founded its cantonal section in Zurich and was running for national parliament without success.

In February 2018, the party again received broad attention due to the appearance of Simon Scherrer and Silvan Amberg in the national TV-debate Arena for their opposition against the federal taxes.[3]

Political positions

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The party’s vision is to reduce government activities to a minimum. The sole purpose of government should be to protect life, property and liberty of its citizens.[4]

The party puts strong emphasis on its philosophical roots, including self-ownership and the non-aggression-principle and has formulated those foundations in "paper of principles".[5]

Since its incorporation, the party has been advocate of abolishing subsidies (e.g. for culture),[6] the federal income tax,[7] the beer tax,[8] and the compulsory old age insurance "AHV",[9] liberalizing migration and legalizing all drugs.

Organisation

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The Libertarian Party is governed by a national board which is elected annually by its active members with voting rights (so-called "driver"). The board can establish local bodies.[10] The only cantonal party has been founded in the Canton of Zurich so far.[11] Up! has been active only in the German-speaking part of Switzerland but it has recently launched a website in French.

The party has confirmed several times that it will run for parliament only, but it will refrain from any executive positions in politics.[12]

Public perception and criticism

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The party has been named a "hippie version" of the Swiss liberal party FDP due to its tolerant position on drugs.[13] Swiss media has referred to up! as being "radical avant-garde", but also as "Government-haters" or "enemy of the state".

Often the party is referred to as "young", "small" or even "micro-party". Some media has criticized that up! is gaining more media attention than it would deserve based on its size and electorate.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Fontana, Katharina (2017-03-28). "Die radikalen Vorkämpfer | NZZ". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  2. ^ Switzerland, St. Galler Tagblatt AG. "Brenda Mäder gründet eine neue Partei". Thurgauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  3. ^ "Abstimmungs-"Arena" – Soll der Bund weiter Steuern erheben dürfen?". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  4. ^ www.20min.ch, www.20minuten.ch, 20 Minuten, 20 Min. ""Wir sind eine Minimal-Staat-Partei"". 20 Minuten. Retrieved 2018-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Paper of Principles
  6. ^ www.20min.ch, www.20minuten.ch, 20 Minuten, 20 Min. ""Bald mehr Filmemacher als Zuschauer"". 20 Minuten. Retrieved 2018-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ www.20min.ch, www.20minuten.ch, 20 Minuten, 20 Min. "Ein laut geführter Kampf geht zu Ende". 20 Minuten. Retrieved 2018-05-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Blick. "Petition: Unabhängigkeitspartei will Biersteuer abschaffen" (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  9. ^ Switzerland, St. Galler Tagblatt AG. "Gegen Steuern und die AHV". St.Galler Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  10. ^ Articles of Association
  11. ^ Abend, Blick am. "Sie wollen hoch hinaus: Zürich bekommt eine "Hippie-FDP"" (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  12. ^ Switzerland, St. Galler Tagblatt AG. "Brenda Mäder gründet eine neue Partei". St.Galler Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  13. ^ "Sie wollen hoch hinaus: Zürich bekommt eine "Hippie-FDP"". Blick am Abend (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
  14. ^ Duc, Julien. "Doppelauftritt für Mikro-Partei UP in "Arena"" (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-05.
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