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Left-leaning parties receive competition

A new Swiss political party has been founded. "The Left" will attempt to win votes with a platform more leftwing than that of the Greens or Social Democrats.

Around 200 people took part in a congress of the new party in Schaffhausen on Saturday.

In an appeal to Swiss voters, The Left said it intended to become an “eco-socialist power, which is currently lacking in Switzerland”.

One of the co-founders of the new party, Florian Keller, said The Left should appeal to young people across the country who feel represented by neither the centre-left Social Democrats or Greens.

A national committee was elected on Saturday, whose mandate is to enter “into dialogue with all anti-capitalist and eco-socialist movements in the country” with the goal of uniting them in a single party.

A formal founding ceremony is scheduled to take play next May in Lausanne.

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