People’s Party rejects racism accusation

The Swiss People's Party has rejected accusations in a Council of Europe report that it encourages racism and xenophobia. The party's election posters (pictured) have drawn criticism at home for their controversial focus on foreigners.

The Swiss People’s Party has rejected accusations in a Council of Europe report that it encourages racism and xenophobia. The party’s election posters (pictured) have drawn criticism at home for their controversial focus on foreigners.

A leading party member dismissed the claim as wrong and insulting. Maximilian Reimann, a member of the Swiss senate, said the party’s inclusion in the Council of Europe report was “unacceptable”.

The report on the threat to democracy through extremist parties and movements was published in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

“The advances made by parties which, directly or indirectly, promote xenophobia, intolerance, or racism, is particularly worrying in certain member states in which recent election results represent far more than peripheral phenomenon,” the report says.

It says this is the case in Austria, Belgium, France, Russia and Switzerland. In Switzerland, the People’s Party leapt from third to first place in terms of its share of the vote in last October’s general elections. However, the vote had no impact on the make-up of the government, in which the party has held one of the seven cabinet posts since 1929.

Reimann conceded that the party had fought abuses of Switzerland’s asylum law and was critical of Europe, but insisted it was no danger to democracy in Europe.

He said “bad losers” in the elections were behind the party’s naming in the report. The commission which helped prepare the document in Strasbourg included representatives of Switzerland’s Social Democratic and Christian Democratic parties.