Swiss Democrats

The Swiss Democrats ( SD) (French Démocrates Suisses (DS ), Italian Democratici Svizzeri (DS ), Romansh Svizzers Democrats (DS ) ) is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party in Switzerland. The party was represented from 1967 to 2007 in the National Council and still holds some seats in city and municipal parliaments. The Swiss Democrats fight for the Swiss neutrality, national identity and reject an approximation of Switzerland to the European Union.

Program

The SD is a nationalist and conservative party with strong isolationist tendencies. Since its establishment, under the name of National Action against alienation of people and homeland, the fight against " foreign infiltration " and against " overpopulation of habitat Switzerland " - the current formulation - in the center of the programmatic offer the party.

The self-declared main objective of SD is to get " the Switzerland as a free, viable, independent and neutral nation of will " in its form as a federal confederation " big voice of the people at all political levels ."

According to the SD changed " the large number of non- assimilable asylum seekers and foreigners from exotic countries," the " national character " of the Swiss population, which is why the mass immigration should be stopped. She is committed to the intensification of the Lex Koller, the acquisition of real estate by foreigners restricts ( "selling out the home "). Next she is fighting for maintaining or increasing economic independence of Switzerland from abroad, to secure the social welfare system (especially the first column refer to the three-pillar system: Switzerland's social works ) and for law and order.

In the 1970s, then-President Valentin Oehen first time the party tried - under the name of National Action against alienation of the people and the homeland - increasingly geared to ecological issues. The demand for greater protection of nature and the environment, " natural resources ", moved in recent years again to the fore. Adorned in the 2007 election campaign because the slogan " national - environmentally aware - socially " election advertising the SD. She sees a strong link between Switzerland as strong immigration and the resulting environmental problems.

History

1961, the current Swiss Democrats were founded as National Action against the alienation of the people and the homeland (short NA) in Winterthur. For the first time a candidate for the National Party in the elections in 1967 and recorded with James Schwarzenbach a seat in the Canton of Zurich. 1969 launched the party under James Schwarzenbach as party chairman named after him first Schwarzenbach initiative, which had a limitation of the cantonal aliens shares to a maximum of 10 percent of the goal. The popular initiative was rejected in 1970, but achieved with a share of 46 per cent of votes a surprising success.

After an intra-party dispute Schwarzenbach came in 1971 from the NA and founded his own Republican Movement. From 1 November 1970, the Grand Council of Basel Rudolf Weber was President of the Central National Action. He was replaced due to internal squabbles of Valentin Oehen 1972.

1974 another popular initiative was rejected with similar content as the first of two-thirds of those voting.

In 1973, the young National Action (JNA) was founded. Today, the young party under the name of Young Swiss Democrats ( JSD ) is again represented in the northwest and eastern Switzerland.

1981 seized the party, then still as National Action, the referendum against the new Aliens Act 1982, the appropriate tuning and won scarce. In the following years the party vote repeatedly achieved success, including in the fight against the naturalization of foreigners and asylum policy.

1984-1992 represented Eric Weber, the Swiss Democrats in the Parliament of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Through his loutish, - for SD ratios - he hurt uncompromising and xenophobic behavior the image of his party and was subsequently excluded.

In 1990, the Republicans joined ( which had become meaningless in the last years of its existence ) back to the party. They changed the name to Swiss Democrats ( SD). In 1991, she reached for the national elections for the first time fraction strength. In the early 1990s, the party gained strength at first, but then lost more and more members, voters and parliamentary seats to the Swiss People's Party, which is similar as before the SD with popular initiatives such as those " against abuse of asylum procedures " ( rejected on 24 November 2002) for votes advertises.

On 7 August 2007, the Swiss Democrats launched their own people's initiative, through which racism criminal provision should be deleted without replacement from the Criminal Code. However, the initiative did not come about because the required number of signatures has not been reached.

From 1999 to 2007, the SD was represented only with the Bern National Bernhard Hess in the legislature of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss Parliament elections in 2007 Hess was not re-elected, after forty years, the Swiss Democrats were no longer represented in the National Council.

After this seat loss continued within the party a discussion of their resolution. A transformation of the party into a patriotic movement that would work with the initiative and referendum law, but was rejected by the board on 27 October 2007 unanimously.

Had also in most cantonal and municipal elections of the 2000s, the SD heavy losses plug, rarely, there were exceptions, particularly on 12 February 2006 in the city of Zurich and on March 8, 2009 at Aargau. Today the SD are no longer represented in the cantonal and all of the great majority of the community parliaments.

The Swiss Parliament elections of 2011, the share of the vote the party was only 0.2%. In all six cantons where the SD competed, she received less than one percent of the vote.

Current work

Since spring 2013, the Swiss Democrats are not represented in any cantonal parliament more after they have their two seats lost in the elections of October 21, 2012 at the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau. Even at the local level the party has no seats in parliament more. In the local elections on 9 February 2014, the party lost two seats in the municipal council of the city of Zurich and Winterthur. The two seats in the communities examination and Allschwil were lost during the current parliamentary term.

At the Assembly of Delegates in Suhr of 26 March 2011, the Swiss Democrats have decided to launch a popular initiative for a balanced migration balance between foreign and Switzerland. The reason given was " everywhere grew stronger, population pressure " indicated.