Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

Free Democratic Party/Radical Democratic Party
German: Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei
French: Parti radical-démocratique
Italian: Partito Liberale Radicale
Romansh: Partida liberaldemocrata svizra
Founded1894 (1894)
Dissolved1 January 2009; 15 years ago (2009-01-01)
Merged intoFDP. The Liberals
HeadquartersNeuengasse 20
Postfach 6136
CH-3001 Bern
IdeologyLiberalism (Switzerland)
Classical liberalism[1]
Conservative liberalism[2]
Political positionCentre-right[3][4]
European affiliationEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
International affiliationInternational Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties
(before 1938)
Liberal International
(after 1947)
Colours  Azure

The Free Democratic Party (German: Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei, FDP; Romansh: Partida liberaldemocrata svizra, PLD), also called Radical Democratic Party (French: Parti radical-démocratique, PRD; Italian: Partito liberale-radicale svizzero, PLR)[5][6][7][8][9] was a liberal[10][11][12] political party in Switzerland. Formerly one of the major parties in Switzerland, on 1 January 2009 it merged with the Liberal Party of Switzerland to form FDP. The Liberals.

The FDP was formed in 1894 from the Radicals, who had dominated Swiss politics since the 1830s, standing in opposition to the Catholic conservatives, and who from the creation of the federal state in 1848 until 1891 formed the federal government.

The FDP remained dominant until the introduction of proportional representation in 1919. From 1945 to 1987, it alternated with the Social Democratic Party to be the largest party. In 1959, the party took two seats in the magic formula. The party declined in the 1990s and 2000s (decade), as it was put under pressure by the Swiss People's Party. In response, the party formed closer relations with the smaller Liberal Party, leading to their formal merger in 2009.

  1. ^ Jan-Erik Lane; Svante O. Ersson (1999). Politics and Society in Western Europe. SAGE Publications. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  2. ^ Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, a Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 489. ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1.
  3. ^ Damir Skenderovic (2009). The Radical Right in Switzerland: Continuity and Change, 1945-2000. Berghahn Books. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-84545-948-2. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  4. ^ Hanspeter Kriesi; Laurent Bernhard (2011). The Context of the Campaigns. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 20. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Lublin, David (2014). Minority Rules: Electoral Systems, Decentralization, and Ethnoregional Party Success. Oxford University Press. pp. 232–233.
  6. ^ Thompson, Wayne C., ed. (2014). "Switzerland". Western Europe 2014. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-4758-1230-5.
  7. ^ "FDP. The Liberals". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  8. ^ Roberts, Geoffrey K.; Hogwood, Patricia, eds. (1997). European Politics Today. Manchester University Press. p. 383.
  9. ^ Lansford, Tom, ed. (2013). "Switzerland". Political Handbook of the World 2013. CQ Press/SAGE. pp. 1400–1401. ISBN 978-1452258249.
  10. ^ Erik Lundsgaarde (2012). The Domestic Politics of Foreign Aid. Routledge. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-415-65695-5. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  11. ^ Hanspeter Kriesi (31 July 2012). "Restructuring the national political space: the supply side of national electoral politics". In Hanspeter Kriesi; Edgar Grande; Martin Dolezal; Marc Helbling; Dominic Höglinger (eds.). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-107-02438-0. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  12. ^ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.