Swiss small parties face slim survival chances, political scientist says

New parties have little room to establish themselves in Switzerland and their chances of surviving are likely to approach zero in the medium term, according to political scientist Georg Lutz in an interview with SRF.

The assessment comes as Valérie Dittli, a member of Vaud’s cantonal government, has left her party, The Centre, and plans to establish her own party, called Mouvement libéral.

Lutz, a political science professor at the University of Lausanne, said a new party would need a strategically important project that fills a gap not addressed by existing parties. Small groupings have more opportunities in large cities, he said.

In political science terms, the remaining gap lies on the economic left, for example on the redistribution of wealth, while being conservative on cultural and social issues, Lutz said.

Resources are also crucial. A new party needs money, but above all it needs people who remain involved over the long term and work to establish the organisation, he said.

Some small parties have succeeded locally, including the Lega in Ticino and the Geneva Citizens’ Movement, or MCG. Some left-wing splinter groups have also survived in individual cities.

The Green Liberal Party, or GLP, was founded in Zurich in 2004. Lutz said it was too early to determine whether it had succeeded in establishing itself permanently. The party has a theoretically attractive position for both left-wing and right-wing voters, but struggles in majority elections. In practice, voters from neither side systematically support its candidates, he said.

Swiss political history is marked by small parties that eventually disappeared, including the National Ring of Independents, the Automobile Party and the Conservative Democratic Party, or BDP.

The Evangelical People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union are exceptions, Lutz said, because their Christian values appeal to a specific group of voters. The Greens have also managed to establish themselves after emerging as a movement in the 1970s and gradually becoming more united. The GLP has made some progress, but its foundation remains more volatile, he said.

The BDP, founded in 2008, merged with the Christian Democratic People’s Party in 2021 to form The Centre. Lutz said the BDP lacked distinctive features and was too similar to the Christian Democrats. It was also concentrated in only a few cantons, leaving it unlikely to survive on its own.

“Small parties come and go,” Lutz said.