Swiss Abroad

Young Swiss urged to vote

This content was published on Sep 11, 2003 Faced with growing apathy, campaigners are hoping to persuade at least 30 per cent of young Swiss voters to cast their ballot. Just 26 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds turned out to vote in the 1999 general election. The “Vote Young” campaign hopes to improve the turnout this year. It was launched by the…

Liberal Party

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 Christine Wirz-von Planta, vice-president The Liberal Party is the successor to the “Liberal Democratic Party”, a rightwing splinter group which broke away from the Radicals in 1913. Its stronghold is in the Protestant cantons of French-speaking Switzerland and the city of Basel. Over the past 30 years the party has regularly gained up to three…

Green Party

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 Ruth Genner, co-president The Green Party has its roots in various environmental groups that formed in the 1970s to prevent the construction of new motorways. In 1991 it experienced its biggest electoral success winning 6.1 per cent of the vote and 14 seats in the House of Representatives. However, the party could not hold onto…

Christian Democratic Party

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 Philipp Stähelin, president The roots of the Christian Democrats go back to the conservative, Catholic milieu of the 19th century. The party was first represented in the cabinet in 1891. Between 1919 and 1987, its share of the vote was stable at around 20 per cent, but since the end of the 1980s the party…

Social Democratic Party

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 Christine Goll, vice-president The Social Democratic Party was founded in 1888. It was considered to be the main opposition to the Radicals in parliament. After the General Strike in 1918, the House of Representatives introduced proportional representation which helped the Social Democrats gain 41 seats. In 1943 they became the strongest party in parliament, finally…

Radical Party

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 Christiane Langenberger, president The founding fathers of modern-day Switzerland in 1848 went on to form the Radical Party in 1894. Up until 1943 the party held the majority in the seven-member cabinet. The Radicals were the largest party in parliament until 1999 when they gained only 19.9 per cent of the vote. The party has…

Conflicting Sri Lankan sides meet in Switzerland

This content was published on Sep 9, 2003 It was the first time the two sides had met since peace talks stalled in April. The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate state in the Tamil-dominated north-east of the island for nearly two decades. Around 65,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Representatives of both sides were part of a…

Swiss Politics

Gimmicks out to grab voter attention

This content was published on Sep 9, 2003 With less than six weeks to go before voters go to the polls, experts say Swiss politicians are becoming increasingly media savvy in running their campaigns. “The campaigns have become [media] events,” admits the Social Democrats’ Jean-Philippe Jeannerat, “but they would be nothing without content.” Otfried Jarren, professor in media studies at Zurich University, says…

Swiss Politics

Swiss find Italian support for EU accords

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told his Swiss counterpart, Micheline Calmy-Rey, that the accords were likely to be discussed at an upcoming EU ministerial conference. Frattini said the Italian government – which currently holds the rotating EU presidency – was in favour of speeding up negotiations with Switzerland. Calmy-Rey was in Rome on the…

Swiss Politics

Rightwing says EU is key election issue

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 But political analysts believe the People’s Party is simply exploiting rival parties’ inconsistency on EU membership to win seats. “The general elections are European elections,” Ueli Maurer, president of the People’s Party, said on Monday. Swiss voters overwhelmingly turned down an initiative in March 2001, which called for immediate talks on membership to the EU.…

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Swiss Abroad

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Young Swiss urged to vote

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Liberal Party

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Green Party

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Christian Democratic Party

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Social Democratic Party

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Radical Party

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Conflicting Sri Lankan sides meet in Switzerland

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Gimmicks out to grab voter attention

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Swiss find Italian support for EU accords

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Rightwing says EU is key election issue

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