Liberal Party of Switzerland

The Liberal Party of Switzerland (German: Liberale Partei der Schweiz, French: Parti libéral suisse, Italian: Partito Liberale Svizzero, Romansh: Partida liberala svizra) was a political party in Switzerland with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) to establish FDP.The Liberals.

It was strongest in the Protestant cantons in Romandy, particularly in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Neuchâtel. In contrast, the ideologically similar FDP was successful nationwide. The Liberal Party was a member of Liberal International.

History

In the 2003 federal election, the party had a joint slate with the Free Democratic Party. The party was the junior partner of the faction, with only 2.2% of the vote compared with the FDP's 17.3%. However, in their strongholds of the cantons of Romandy and the canton of Basel-City, they were particularly successful. Their best performance was in Geneva, where they received 16.8% of the vote. It won 4 seats (out of 200) in the Swiss National Council, but was represented in neither the second chamber nor in the Swiss Federal Council, the government's cabinet.

After the election, the Liberals and FDP founded a common caucus in the Federal Assembly. In June 2005, they strengthened their cooperation by founding the Radical and Liberal Union.^[1] They finally merged on 1 January 2009 with the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland to form the "FDP.The Liberals".

Presidents

• 1981–1985   Lukas Burckhardt, Basel
• 1985–1989   Gilbert Coutau, Geneva
• 1989–1993   Claude Bonnard, Vaud
• 1993–1997   François Jeanneret, Vaud
• 1997–2002   Jacques-Simon Eggly, Geneva
• 2002–2008   Claude Ruey, Vaud
• 2008–2009   Pierre Weiss, Geneva

See also

• Liberalism and radicalism in Switzerland

References

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Political parties in Switzerland

National Council
(200 seats)

Federal Council	Swiss People's Party (53) Social Democratic Party (39) The Liberals (29) The Centre (28)
Non-governmental	Green Party (28) Green Liberal Party (16) Evangelical People's Party (3) Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (1) Swiss Party of Labour (1) Solidarity (1) Ticino League (1)

Council of States
(46 seats)

Federal Council	The Centre (13) FDP.The Liberals (12) Social Democratic Party (9) Swiss People's Party (6)
Non-governmental	Green Party (5) Independent (1)

Other parties

• Alternative Left
• Alternative List
• Anti-PowerPoint Party
• Christian Social Party
• Freedom Party
• Geneva Citizens' Movement
• Pirate Party
• Social Liberal Movement
• Swiss Democrats
• Libertarian Party

• Portal:Politics
• Politics of Switzerland
• List of ruling political parties by country

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