Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland

Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland
Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz (BDP) (German)
Parti bourgeois démocratique suisse (PBD) (French)
Partito borghese democratico Svizzero (PBD) (Italian)
Partida burgais democratica Svizra (PBD) (Romansh)
PresidentMartin Landolt
Founded1 November 2008
Dissolved31 December 2020 (2020-12-31)
Split fromSwiss People's Party
Merged intoThe Centre
HeadquartersPostfach 119
CH-3000 Bern 6
Membership (2015)6,500[1]
IdeologyConservatism
Political positionCentre to centre-right
Colours  Yellow (official)
  Black (customary)

The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (German: Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz, BDP; French: Parti bourgeois démocratique suisse, PBD; Italian: Partito Borghese Democratico Svizzero, PBD; Romansh: Partida burgais democratica Svizra PBDⓘ, PBD; Swiss Democratic Bourgeois Party) was a conservative[2][3][4] political party in Switzerland from 2008 to 2020. After the 2019 federal election, the BDP had three members in the National Council.

It was founded as a moderate splinter group from the national-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC); it was created as a political party on the federal level on 1 November 2008.[5] It was led by Martin Landolt. It had, until January 2016, one Federal Councillor, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, whose election in defiance of the SVP/UDC incumbent Christoph Blocher led to the creation of the party. It comprised most of the SVP/UDC's old centrist-agrarian wing, which had been overshadowed in recent years by its nationalist-activist wing.

The party's name in German, French, Italian and Romansh came from "bourgeois", the traditional European term for a centre-right party.

On 1 January 2021,[6] the party merged with the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) to form the new party The Centre (DM/LC).[7][8][9][10] Cantonal parties were allowed to continue operating under the existing BDP/PBD name.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference chancellery was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Switzerland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  3. ^ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
  4. ^ Teuwsen, Peer (October 24, 2011). "In der Schweiz Tut Sich Was". Die Zeit. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  5. ^ "Die BDP Schweiz wird am 1. November gegründet". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 30 August 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  6. ^ Europe Elects [@EuropeElects] (2 January 2021). "Switzerland: Yesterday, CVP (EPP) and BDP (*) merged" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "CVP schliesst sich mit BDP zur "Die Mitte" zusammen". Swissinfo (in German). 28 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  8. ^ "BDP-Delegierte sagen Ja zum Zusammenschluss mit der CVP". Suedostschweiz (in German). 14 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  9. ^ "CVP und BDP sind ab 2021 «Die Mitte»". Schweizer Bauer (in German). 29 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  10. ^ Wientzek, Olaf (1 December 2020). "Historic day for Swiss Christian Democrats – Merger and Farewell to the "C"". Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Retrieved 2 January 2022.