Swiss federal election, 2003
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Legislative elections in the Swiss Confederation were held on 19 October 2003. Although in Switzerland's peculiar political system, in which all four major parties form a coalition, it's very hard to achieve a change of government, this election produced an upset in the strong showing of the right-wing, anti-European Union and anti-immigration Swiss People's Party. The left wing parties, the Socialists and the Greens, also improved their positions. The losers were the parties of the centre-right, the Christian Democratic People's Party and the Free Democratic Party.
In the aftermath of the elections Ruth Metzler-Arnold, one of the two Christian Democrats in the Federal Council was replaced by Christoph Blocher, the most influential politician in the Swiss People's Party.
The Legislature
Switzerland has a bicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly (Assemblée Fédérale / Bundesversammlung / Asamblea Federale / Assemblea Federala).
- The National Council (Conseil National / Nationalrat / Consiglio Nazionale / Cussegl Naziunal) has 200 members, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies corresponding to the 26 Swiss cantons and half-cantons.
- The Council of States (Conseil des Etats / Ständerat / Consiglio degli Stati / Cussegl dals Stadis) has 46 members elected for four-year terms from multi-member and single-member constituencies.
These elections were to the National Council and for most of the members of the Council of States.
All parties in Switzerland have different names in French, German and Italian, and conduct separate campaigns in the different language areas.
Parties
Government parties
These four parties have formed a continuous coalition government since 1959 with each party allotted a fixed number of cabinet posts (the "magic formula").
Swiss People's Party (right wing-populist)
- SVP, Schweizerische Volkspartei
- UDC, Union démocratique du centre
- UDC, Unione democratica di centro
Social-Democratic Party or Socialist Party (centre-left)
- SP, Sozialdemokratische Partei
- PSS, Parti socialiste Suisse
- PS, Partito socialista
Christian Democratic Party (centre-right)
- CVP, Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei
- PDC, Parti Démocrate-Chrétien
- PPD, Partito popolare democratico
Free Democratic Party (centre-right, liberal)
- FDP, Freisinnig-demokratische Volkspartei
- PRD, Parti radical-démocratique
- PLR, Partito liberale radicale
Other parties
Green Lists (under different names in each Canton)
- LP, Liberale Partei
- Les Libéraux
Evangelical People's Party (centre-right)
- EVP, Evangelische Volkspartei
- PE, Parti évangélique
- PE, Partito evangelico
Federal Democratic Union (conservative-right)
- EDU, Eidgenossisch-Demokratische Union
- UDF, Union Démocratique Fédérale
- PdA, Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz
- PST, Parti Suisse du Travail
- PdL, Partito Svizzero del Lavoro
Official Results
Summary of the 19 October 2003 National Council of Switzerland election results |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Abbr. !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|+/– !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Change |- |align=left|Swiss People's Party |align=left|SVP/UDC |561817 |26.6 | +4.1% |55 | +11 |- |align=left|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland |align=left|SPS/PSS |490388 |23.4 | +0.9% |52 | +1 |- |align=left|Free Democratic Party of Switzerland |align=left|FDP/PRD |363643 |17.3 | –2.6% |36 | –7 |- |align=left|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland |align=left|CVP/PDC |302355 |14.4 | –1.4% |28 | –7 |- |align=left|Green Party of Switzerland |align=left|GPS/PES |155110 |7.4 | +2.4% |13 | +4 |- |align=left|Evangelical People's Party |align=left|EVP/PEV |47839 |2.3 | +0.5% |3 | ±0 |- |align=left|Liberal Party of Switzerland |align=left|LPS/PLS |45864 |2.2 | ±0.0% |4 | –2 |- |align=left|Federal Democratic Union |align=left|EDU/UDF |26586 |1.3 | +0.1% |2 | +1 |- |align=left|Swiss Democrats |align=left|SD/DS |20175 |1.0 | –0.8% |1 | ±0 |- |align=left|Swiss Labour Party |align=left|PdA/PST |14595 |0.7 | –0.3% |2 | –1 |- |align=left|Alternative List (include Socialist Green Alternatives of Zug) |align=left|AL |12523 |0.6 | +0.4% |1 | +1 |- |align=left|Solidarities |align=left|SOL |10563 |0.5 | ±0.0% |1 | +1 |- |align=left|Christian Social Party |align=left|CSP/PCS |7358 |0.4 | ±0.0% |1 | ±0 |- |align=left|Ticino League |align=left|LEGA |7304 |0.4 | –0.5% |1 | –1 |- |align=left|Freedom Party of Switzerland |align=left|FPS |3999 |0.2 | –0.7% |0 | ±0 |- |- |align=left colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total (turnout %) |width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|200 |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=7 align=left|Source: http://www.wahlen.ch/ http://www.ch03.ch |} Summary of the 19 October 2003 Council of States of Switzerland election results |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left width=400|Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Change |- |align=left|Swiss People's Party SVP/UDC |align="right" |8 |align="right" |+1 |- |align=left|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland SPS/PSS |align="right" |9 |align="right" |+3 |- |align=left|Free Democratic Party of Switzerland FDP/PRD |align="right" |14 |align="right" |-4 |- |align=left|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland CVP/PDC |align="right" |15 |align="right" |0 |- |align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|46 |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |}
External links and references
- Official voting results (German)
- 2003 election coverage in German, French, Italian, Romansh
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