President of Social Democrats holds crucial news conference

The crisis within Switzerland's largest political party, the Social Democrats, appears to be coming to a head. The party president, Ursula Koch, is holding a news conference today, amid mounting pressure on her to resign.

The crisis within Switzerland’s largest political party, the Social Democrats, appears to be coming to a head. The party president, Ursula Koch, is holding a news conference today, amid mounting pressure on her to resign.

Koch has called the news conference to give her version of a crisis which has been wreaking havoc with party unity over the past few weeks. Until now, she has steadfastly refused to step down, but calls for her resignation have multiplied in the past week.

On Friday, party managers will meet to consider the implications of Koch’s statements, and decide whether to call a meeting of the executive in March. That move could pave the way for a spcial party meeting in summer at which the debate over the party’s leadership could come to a head.

Pressure within the party has mounted in the past week. Social Democrat members of parliament from western Switzerland added their voices on Tuesday to a growing call for an emergency party meeting.

A member of parliament for St. Gallen, Hildegard Fässler, has also said she would be willing to stand as a repacement for Koch, claiming she had widespread support within the party.

Disagreement over Koch’s future, which primarily centres on her leaderhip style, came to a head over the weekend when party managers met behind closed doors near Berne in an attempt to thrash out their differences.

After the meeting, Koch downplayed the importance of the talks and indicated there had been agreement that renewed efforts would be made to heal differences within the next few months.

Within hours, however, she and the vice-president, Pierre Aeby, were trading verbal punches, and there were open calls from senior party officials for her to resign.

Koch has been party president since 1997. Her critics accuse her of failing to fulfil promises made during her campaign for election as party president. She has also been accused of being over-harsh towards people within the party who disagree with her views.

From staff and wire reports