Party political row heats up

A public row between two of the parties represented in government has escalated. The right-wing People's Party has refused to apologise for controversial comments about the Social Democrats by of one of its leading members.

A public row between two of the parties represented in government has escalated. The right-wing People’s Party has refused to apologise for controversial comments about the Social Democrats by of one of its leading members.

In a letter published on Friday, the People’s Party said Christoph Blocher, who described the Social Democrats as closer to fascism than his party, was prepared to discuss his comments in a public debate.

“You will understand,” the People’s Party president, Ueli Maurer, wrote to his Social Democratic counterpart, Ursula Koch, “that the party cannot distance itself from the pronouncements of the member of parliament, Blocher.”

Maurer added in the letter that his party was surprised by the vehemence of the Social Democrats’ reaction. All 34 Social Democratic members of parliament voted on Tuesday to boycott cross-party discussions until an apology was forthcoming.

The Radicals have also decided to boycott the cross-party meeting. The next set of talks is due on May 18.

The row has been brewing since Blocher, the party’s most prominent figure, accused the Social Democrats of showing totalitarian tendencies by supporting moves in the European Union to politically isolate Austria.

The growing acrimony between the left and right in Switzerland has also raised concerns that the era of political consensus is coming to an end. Swiss political analyst, Julian Hottinger, believes there’s a clear trend towards more confrontation in politics. But he says it’s not yet clear whether this is confined to rhetoric, or whether there really are growing ideological differences between the parties.

swissinfo with agencies