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| Founded | 1894 (1894) |
| Dissolved | 1 January 2009; 16 years ago (2009-01-01) |
| Merged into | FDP. The Liberals |
| Headquarters | Neuengasse 20 Postfach 6136 CH-3001Bern |
| Ideology | Liberalism (Switzerland) Classical liberalism[1] Conservative liberalism[2] |
| Political position | Centre-right[3][4] |
| European affiliation | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| International affiliation | Radical International (before 1938) Liberal International (after 1947) |
| Colours | Azure |
TheFree Democratic Party (German:Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei,FDP;Romansh:Partida liberaldemocrata svizra,PLD), also calledRadical Democratic Party (French:Parti radical-démocratique,PRD;Italian:Partito liberale-radicale svizzero,PLR)[5][6][7][8][9] was aliberal[10][11][12]political party inSwitzerland. Formerly one of themajor parties in Switzerland, on 1 January 2009 it merged with theLiberal Party of Switzerland to formFDP. The Liberals.
The FDP was formed in 1894 from theRadicals, who had dominated Swiss politics since the 1830s, standing in opposition to theCatholicconservatives, and who from the creation of thefederal state in 1848 until 1891 formed thefederal government.
The FDP remained dominant until the introduction ofproportional representation in 1919. From 1945 to 1987, it alternated with theSocial Democratic Party to be the largest party. In 1959, the party took two seats in themagic formula. The party declined in the 1990s and 2000s (decade), as it was put under pressure by theSwiss People's Party. In response, the party formed closer relations with the smallerLiberal Party, leading to their formal merger in 2009.
The elements 'liberal', 'radical' andfreisinnig (an obsolete German word for 'liberal',[13] or literally "free thinking"[5]) in the party's name originate from the conflicts during the period of SwissRestoration between the Catholic-conservative cantons and the liberal cantons. This conflict led to the foundation of theSwiss federal state in 1848 after the victory of the predominantlyProtestant and liberal cantons over the conservative and Catholic ones in theSonderbund war.
From 1848 until 1891, theFederal Council was composed entirely of Radicals. The radical movement of the restoration wasanti-clerical,[6] and stood in opposition to the Catholic Conservative Party, the ancestor of the modernChristian Democratic People's Party. They were otherwise heterogeneous, including andclassical liberal 'Liberals',federalist 'Radicals', andsocial liberal 'Democrats': placing the radical movement on the 'left' of thepolitical spectrum. It was not until the rise of theSocial Democratic Party in the early 20th century that the FDP found itself on the centre-right.
The FDP was the dominant party until the 1919 election, when the introduction ofproportional representation led to a leap in the representation of the Social Democrats. In 1959, the Free Democrats joined the other major parties in agreeing the 'magic formula' to divide up the seats of theFederal Council, with the FDP permanently receiving two of the seven seats.
After the2003 elections, lawmakers of FDP andLiberal Party formed a common parliamentary group in theFederal Assembly. In June 2005, they strengthened their cooperation by founding theRadical and Liberal Union.[14] They merged on 1 January 2009 to formFDP. The Liberals.
In 2003, it held 36 mandates (out of 200) in theSwiss National Council (first chamber of the Swiss parliament); 14 (out of 46) in the second chamber and two out of seven mandates in theSwiss Federal Council (executive body). By 2005, it held 27.2% of the seats in the SwissCantonal governments and 19.7% in the SwissCantonal parliaments (index "BADAC", weighted with the population and number of seats). At the lastlegislative elections, 22 October 2007, the party won 15.6% of the popular vote and 31 out of 200 seats.[15]
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | 181,028 | 47.8 (#1) | 86 / 147 |  12 |  1st |
| 1899 | 183,216 | 49.7 (#1) | 82 / 147 |  2 | 1st |
| 1902 | 205,235 | 50.4 (#1) | 100 / 167 | 16 | 1st |
| 1905 | 202,605 | 49.2 (#1) | 104 / 167 | 4 | 1st |
| 1908 | 202,732 | 50.9 (#1) | 105 / 167 | 1 | 1st |
| 1911 | 198,300 | 49.5 (#1) | 115 / 189 | 10 | 1st |
| 1914 | 191,054 | 56.1 (#1) | 112 / 189 | 3 | 1st |
| 1917 | 210,323 | 40.8 (#1) | 103 / 189 | 9 | 1st |
| 1919 | 215,566 | 28.8 (#1) | 60 / 189 | 43 | 1st |
| 1922 | 208,144 | 28.3 (#1) | 60 / 198 | | 1st |
| 1925 | 206,485 | 27.8 (#1) | 60 / 198 | | 1st |
| 1928 | 220,135 | 27.4 (#2) | 58 / 198 | 2 | 1st |
| 1931 | 232,562 | 26.9 (#2) | 52 / 187 | 6 | 1st |
| 1935 | 216,664 | 23.7 (#2) | 48 / 187 | 4 | 2nd |
| 1939 | 128,163 | 20.7 (#2) | 49 / 187 | 1 | 1st |
| 1943 | 197,746 | 22.5 (#2) | 47 / 194 | 2 | 2nd |
| 1947 | 220,486 | 23.0 (#2) | 52 / 194 | 5 | 1st |
| 1951 | 230,687 | 24.0 (#2) | 51 / 196 | 1 | 1st |
| 1955 | 227,370 | 23.3 (#2) | 50 / 196 | 1 | 2nd |
| 1959 | 232,557 | 23.7 (#2) | 51 / 196 | 1 | 1st[a] |
| 1963 | 230,200 | 23.9 (#2) | 51 / 200 | | 2nd |
| 1967 | 230,095 | 23.2 (#2) | 49 / 200 | 2 | 2nd |
| 1971 | 432,259 | 21.7 (#2) | 49 / 200 | | 1st |
| 1975 | 428,919 | 22.2 (#2) | 47 / 200 | 2 | 2nd |
| 1979 | 440,099 | 24.0 (#2) | 51 / 200 | 4 | 1st[a] |
| 1983 | 457,283 | 23.3 (#1) | 54 / 200 | 3 | 1st |
| 1987 | 457,283 | 22.9 (#1) | 51 / 200 | 3 | 1st |
| 1991 | 429,072 | 21.0 (#1) | 44 / 200 | 7 | 1st |
| 1995 | 384,515 | 20.2 (#2) | 45 / 200 | 1 | 2nd |
| 1999 | 388,780 | 19.9 (#3) | 43 / 200 | 2 | 3rd |
| 2003 | 364,493 | 17.3 (#3) | 36 / 200 | 7 | 3rd |
| 2007 | 364,736 | 15.8 (#3) | 31 / 200 | 5 | 3rd |
| Name | Canton | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Christian Friedrich Göttisheim | Basel-Stadt | 1894–1896 |
| 2nd | Ernst Brenner | Basel-Stadt | 1896–1897 |
| 3rd | Johannes Stössel | Zurich | 1897–1898 |
| 4th | Johann Hirter | Bern | 1898–1903 |
| 5th | Paul Scherrer | Basel-Stadt | 1904–1906 |
| 6th | Walter Bissegger | Zurich | 1907–1910 |
| 7th | Camille Decoppet | Vaud | 1911–1912 |
| 8th | Félix Bonjour | Vaud | 1912–1913 |
| 9th | Emil Lohner | Bern | 1914–1918 |
| 10th | Robert Schöpfer | Solothurn | 1919–1923 |
| 11th | Albert Meyer | Zurich | 1923–1929 |
| 12th | Hermann Schüpbach | Bern | 1929–1934 |
| 13th | Ernest Béguin | Neuchâtel | 1934–1940 |
| 14th | Max Wey | Luzern | 1940–1948 |
| 15th | Aleardo Pini | Ticino | 1948–1954 |
| 16th | Eugen Dietschi | Basel-Stadt | 1954–1960 |
| 17th | Nello Celio | Ticino | 1960–1964 |
| 18th | Pierre Glasson | Fribourg | 1964–1968 |
| 19th | Henri Schmitt | Geneva | 1968–1974 |
| 20th | Fritz Honegger | Zurich | 1974–1977 |
| 21st | Yann Richter | Neuchâtel | 1978–1984 |
| 22nd | Bruno Hunziker | Aargau | 1984–1989 |
| 23rd | Franz Steinegger | Uri | 1989–2001 |
| 24th | Gerold Bührer | Schaffhausen | 2001–2002 |
| 25th | Christiane Langenberger | Vaud | 2002–2004 |
| 26th | Rolf Schweiger | Zug | 2004 |
| 27th | Marianne Kleiner | Appenzell Innerrhoden | 2004–2005 |
| 28th | Fulvio Pelli | Ticino | 2005–2009 |
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)| National Council (200 seats) |
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| Council of States (46 seats) |
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