SWITZERLAND’S MAJOR EIGHT POLITICAL PARTIES:-

1. Social Democratic Party (SP)

2. Conservative party
3. Radical party
4. Peasant’s party
5. Free Democratic Party (FDP)
6. Swiss People's Party (SVP
7. Christian Democratic Party (CVP)
8. The Greens

Political parties

Whenever a group of persons seeks to acquire political power by collective action, there a
political party comes into being. In every modern democracy the will of the people is
represented by elected members of parliament. These representatives organize themselves
in political parties. Parties do play a central role in the process
of creating and negotiating working solutions for public affairs. The number of parties in
the state maybe one two or many.A political party is made of five elements that is
members, principles, programme, leadership and government power. Political parties are
essential for democracy. It gives political education to people.It makes representative
government stable and responsible.

Ideological or Ethnic Parties

The political parties in Europe and North America are basically oriented according
to ideological and social (class) criteria. Their platforms reflect different views on how
society could work at its best and different interests (entrepreneurs, farmers, workers ).
As long as everybody - party leaders as well as the electorate - is aware of these basic
facts and if the interests of parties and members of parliament are made transparent to the
electorate in some detail, democracy will work fairly well.

On the other hand there are many countries where the political parties deliminate with
respect to ethnic or religious groups. There is no doubt that belonging to an ethnic or
religious group is one of the strongest and most binding feelings human beings are
capable of. Cultures important for orientation and it will always be based on some
traditions. But history shows that these strong feelings of belonging have often been
abused by individuals (leaders) to gain power and wealth on cost of the very people that
trust them as ethnical or religious leaders.

As belonging to an ethnic group cannot be chosen and belonging to a religious group is in

most cases determined by family tradition, many people will not ask themselves why they
belong to an ethnic and/or religious group. As a consequence, it is almost inevitable that
the interests of party leaders become quite hazy behind strong ethnic or religious party
labels.

Modern democracy is not compatible to any cultural tradition, not even to the European
tradition. It just works despite all traditions.

Major Ideological Positions

When trying to describe the ideological positions of parties in western democracies, one
should always be aware that the same term does have slightly different notions in
different countries.

1. Social Democrats: Equality

The social-democratic parties aim at balancing the interests of the different social classes
(workers, entrepreneurs). Western European social democrats do fully accept the basic
principles of the capitalistic economic system with privately owned companies and
market economy (in contrast to communists). They do however plead for clear political
guidelines and rules in economy and they think that in some areas (especially concerning
basic needs) competition is not the best way to ensure quality of service at an affordable
price for the majority of the population. Therefore they favor nationalization of railway,
electricity and water networks as well as postal services and a strong position
of democratically (instead of financially) controlled news services (especially public
radio and television). Further they demand for extensive social security systems (public
insurance for the aged, handicapped, ill) and for good public schools free of charge.
Equality is the basic ideal of social democrats.

2. Liberals (Free Democrats): Liberty and competition

The ideology of the liberal parties is based on a very positive view of individual
capabilities and potentials. They think that society is best served if every individual is
allowed to realize his or her ideas with as few restrictions set by politics as possible. In
the tradition of the British philosopher Adam Smith they do not only accept markets and
competition, they believe in the absolute effectiveness of competition and liberalized
markets for the well-being of all. They assume that really free markets will correct all
possible negative effects of selfishness even without (and even better than with) political
guidelines. Consequently they plead for slim legislation, low taxes and minimal state
activity. Liberals believe that poverty and unemployment are caused by individual
laziness. So they want to keep social security unattractive, and hope that everybody will
strive to get along based on his/her own initiative.
Liberty and competition are the basic ideals of liberals.

3. Conservatives: Moral

Conservative parties are firmly rooted in religious and/or national traditions. They think
that respecting specific values and traditional moral rules is not really a matter of
personal choice but indispensable for society. They esteem authority and integrity and
they fear that too much individual freedom will have disastrous effects for society as a
whole.
Moral and tradition are the basic ideals of conservatives.

Continental European conservatives (especially in Germany, Austria, Italy and

Switzerland) do explicitly declare themselves as Christian parties and show at least some
sympathy for the idea that the state should help the weaker members of society. In this
they favor a more patronizing attitude than the social democrats, however.
British and US conservatives (Tories, Republicans) appear to be dedicated even more
strongly to moral values than continental European conservatives in questions of
individual behavior (for example abortion, homosexuality). On the other
hand, Republicans favor more economic liberty than continental European Christian
Democrats.

4. Greens / Environmentalists: Harmony

The environmentalists are a relatively young political movement that emerged in the
1970's. After the World War II, society concentrated on the reconstruction of the
destroyed infrastructure, on stable economic growth and on improving social security.
For a long period nobody noticed the long-term effects of ever-increasing economic
activity on the environment and health. The greens, rooted in the students' protest
movement of 1968 contributed to a new consciousness for environmental problems.
Today the platforms of the greens in Europe are fairly similar to those of the social
democrats, but the greens are more individualistic and they do have certain mistrust
towards established institutions (including the state and big state-owned companies).
The basic ideal of the environmentalists is harmony between human beings and with
nature.

SALIENT FEATURES:-

List of political parties in Switzerland

Below is a list of political parties in Switzerland. Switzerland has a multi-party system.
Since 1959, the four largest parties have formed coalition, according to a "Zauberformel"
or "magic formula". This arithmetic formula divides the seven cabinet seats among
representatives of the four largest parties.
The parties:-

Party Members in Political Position

Abbr. Name Website Leader FC ¹ CS ² NC ³ (Ideology)

Right-wing
Swiss People's
SVP/UDC [1] Toni Brunner 1 6 58 populism, National
Party
conservatism

Social Democratic Christian Centre-left, Social

SP/PS [2] 2 9 42
Party Levrat democracy

Free Democratic
FDP/PRD [3][4] Fulvio Pelli 2 12 31 Centre-right, Liberalism
Party 5

Christian
Christophe Centrism, Christian
CVP/PDC/PPD Democratic [5][6] 1 15 31
Darbellay democracy
People's Party 4

Conservative
Conservatism, Economic
BDP/PBD Democratic Party [7] Hans Grunder 1 1 5
liberalism
of Switzerland

Ueli
GPS Green Party [8] 0 2 20 Centre-left, Green politics
Leuenberger

Green Liberal Martin

GLP [9] 0 1 3 Centrism, Green liberalism
Party Bäumle

Evangelical Ruedi Centrism, Christian

EVP/PEV [10] 0 0 2
People's Party Aeschbacher democracy

CSP/PCS Christian Social [11] Monika Bloch 0 0 1 Centre-left, Christian

 Party Süss democracy

Federal
EDU/UDF [12] Hans Moser 0 0 1 Right-wing, Evangelicalism
Democratic Union

Giuliano Right-wing, Regionalism

Lega Ticino League [13] 0 0 1
Bignasca (TI)

Swiss Party of Nelly

PdA/PST [14] 0 0 1 Communism
Labour 6 Buntschu

AL Alternative List [15] 0 0 0 Eco-socialism

Peter
FPS Freedom Party [16] 0 0 0 Far-right, Nationalism
Commarmot

PPS Pirate Party [17] Denis Simonet

SD/DS Swiss Democrats [18] Bernhard Hess 0 0 0 Far-right, Nationalism

Sol Solidarities 0 0 0 Democratic socialism

Mouvement Right-wing, Regionalism

MCG [19] Éric Stauffer 0 0 0
citoyens genevois (GE)

Total 7 46 200

Political parties in Switzerland :-

Swiss People's Party · Social Democratic Party · Free Democratic Party · Christian Democratic People's Party ·
Major parties
 Alternative List · Conservative Democratic Party · Christian Social Party · Federal Democratic Union · Green L
Party· Evangelical People's Party · Freedom Party · Ticino League · Liberal Party · Swiss Party of Labour · Sw
Minor parties
Democrats ·solidarities · Pirate Party