 | |
| Abbreviation | SP PS |
| President | Cédric Wermuth Mattea Meyer |
| Members in Federal Council | Élisabeth Baume-Schneider Beat Jans |
| Founded | 21 October 1888; 137 years ago (1888-10-21) |
| Headquarters | Theaterplatz 4, 3011Bern |
| Youth wing | Young Socialists Switzerland |
| Membership(2015) | c. 30,000[1] |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left toleft-wing |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists (associate) |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance |
| Colours | Red |
| Federal Council | 2 / 7 |
| Council of States | 9 / 46 |
| National Council | 41 / 200 |
| Cantonal executives | 28 / 154 |
| Cantonal legislatures | 442 / 2,544 |
| Website | |
| sp-ps sp-ps sp-ps | |
TheSocial Democratic Party of Switzerland (German:Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz,SP;Romansh:Partida Socialdemocrata da la Svizra), also called theSwiss Socialist Party (French:Parti socialiste suisse;Italian:Partito Socialista Svizzero,PS), is apolitical party inSwitzerland. The SP has had two representatives on theFederal Council since 1960 and received the second-highest number of votes in the2023 Swiss federal election.
The SP was founded on 21 October 1888 and is currently the second-largest of the four leading coalition political parties in Switzerland. It is positioning itself at thecentre-left.[2] Currently,Élisabeth Baume-Schneider andBeat Jans represent the party. As of January 2024, the SP is the second-largest political party in theFederal Assembly.
Amongst allpro-European parties in Switzerland, the SP is the largest, and unlike most other Swiss parties, the SP supports Swiss membership in theEuropean Union.[3][4][5] Additionally, it supports labour rights and tax incentives for companies that offer shares to employees.[6][7][8] The party is a member of theProgressive Alliance[9] and an associate member of theParty of European Socialists.[10]
Before the establishment of the national SP, there were various 19th-centurylabour movements in Switzerland such as theGrütli Union, theSwiss Trade Union Federation and several localsocial democratic parties. Most of these labour parties only lasted a short time, until the foundation of the Social Democratic Party on 21 October 1888 (the SwissLabour Day).Albert Steck of Bern composed the party'splatform which emphasiseddemocracy, rejected revolutionary aspirations, and mandated a democratic solution to the social question. The first party president was Alexander Reichel of Bern.
Two years after the party's foundation,Jakob Vogelsanger was the first Social Democrat to be elected to theNational Council. In 1904, the moderate party platform was replaced at a party conference in Aarau with aMarxist program written by Otto Lang. Thefirst-past-the-post voting system for elections to the National Council and the borders of the electorates initially prevented the party from achieving serious political power on the national level, despite growing numbers of supporters. Twopopular initiatives for the introduction of aproportional voting system were rejected.
The party's historical archives are hosted today by theSwiss Social Archives, which was founded in 1906 by Paul Pflüger. At a 1912 party conference inNeuchâtel, the question of women's suffrage was debated for the first time. The SP accepted a proposal that committed the party to take any opportunity to "agitate for the introduction of women's suffrage."
Although Switzerland remainedneutral in theFirst World War, it did not avoid the spiralling economic crisis that accompanied it. The resulting social tension was unleashed in 1918 by the labour unions and the SP who organised the1918 Swiss general strike. The goal of the strike was a fundamental reorganisation of society. TheFederal Council issued an ultimatum to the strikers and allowed the military occupation of central points. In this way the strike was ended after four days. Political action was quickly taken to conciliate the strikers with the introduction of a 48-hour working week and a popular initiative on proportional elections to theNational Council in the1918 Swiss referendums which passed on 13 October 1918. In the1919 Swiss federal election, the SP doubled its mandate from 20 to 41 members.[11]
With the third party platform, adopted in 1920, disagreement within the party grew ever greater. In particular the fact that the platform called for the foundation of adictatorship of the proletariat during the transitional phase from acapitalist class-based society to a socialist commune sparked violent dispute within the party. In 1921, the party decided not to join theCommunist International. The left-wing of the party then split from the SP and founded theCommunist Party of Switzerland. In 1926, the SP joined theLabour and Socialist International and continued to be a member of until 1940.[12]
With increasing power in parliament, the party now also demanded membership of the government, but their candidate in 1929 was not elected to the Federal Council. On the other hand, the party managed to enter the executive at a cantonal level in 1933.Geneva was the first canton to have a socialist government, withLéon Nicole as president. In the fourth party platform, promulgated in 1935, the SP rejected the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat, but supporting the creation of a socialist society on "free and consensual foundations" remained the party's goal.
In the1943 Swiss federal election, the SP achieved the greatest electoral success in its history and became the largestparliamentary group.Ernst Nobs was the first member of SP to be elected to the Federal Council. With introduction of theOld-age and survivors' insurance [de], a further demand dating back to the time of the Landesstreik was achieved. After the failure of an SP referendum on economic reforms in 1953, the SP member of the Federal Council,Max Weber, and the general-secretary,David Farbstein, resigned. The SP remained in opposition until the introduction of the "magic formula" in 1959, which gave it two seats on the Federal Council. Since that time the SP has been a member of the grand coalition which governs Switzerland.[11] In 1959, the fifth party platform was also agreed in which the party committed itself to reformist socialism on "democratic foundations".
In the 1970s and 1980s, the SP gained new followers from thenew social movements that arose from theprotests of 1968, but lost part of their traditional voter base in the working class. This change led to fierce internal disputes and led to a decline in electoral success. After serious losses in the1987 Swiss federal election, the SP was only the third-largest party in the National Council. This resulted in the foundation of a breakawayDemocratic-Social Party, which was not a success.
The sixth party platform was promulgated in 1982. This presented the party as a modern people's party that supported democratic socialism and had social justice as its highest goal. In 1983, the SP nominatedLilian Uchtenhagen as their candidate for the Federal Council, the first time that a woman had been a candidate. The parliamentary majority electedOtto Stich instead. Part of the party demanded that the SP withdraw from the governing coalition as a result of this, but this was rejected by a party conference.[13] Ten years later in March 1993,Ruth Dreifuss was elected as the first SD woman to serve in the Federal Council. On that occasion too, theUnited Federal Assembly did not choose the official candidate of the SP (Christiane Brunner), but the unofficial candidate Dreifuss (theBrunner-Effekt [de]).
In 1990, the SP party conference accepted Switzerland's accession to theInternational Monetary Fund with clear conditions and elected the Valais canton councillor,Peter Bodenmann, as party president. At the 1992 party conference in Genf, the SP decided to support accession to theEuropean Economic Area as a first step towards membership of theEuropean Economic Community and endorsed a drug policy involving thedecriminalisation of drug consumption, controlled sale of drugs for medicinal purposes, and eventual legalisation of drugs. The following year, the SP supported the national people's initiative "for a reasonable drug policy" which envisioned the legalisation ofcannabis. The SP supported the 1994 national initiative "for the protection of the Alps" which sought a substantial shift of transport of goods through the Alps from road to rail. After Otto Stich's resignation from the Federal Council in 1995, the Federal CouncillorMoritz Leuenberger was elected as his successor. In the1995 Swiss federal election, the SP made a substantial recovery and was once again the largest party in the Federal Council.
In June 1997, the party conference chose Zurich city councillor,Ursula Koch as party president (the first woman to hold the role), rather than the favouriteAndrea Hämmerle [de]. In the1999 Swiss federal election, Koch was also elected to the Federal Council. She resigned as party president and Federal councillor in 2000, due to internal party pressure. Her successor was Christiane Brunner, who led the party until 2004.
In the2007 Swiss federal election, the SP suffered massive losses, falling to 19.5% of the vote, with only 43 seats in the National Council. In the following federal elections (2011 and2015), their electoral support remained at the same level. In theCouncil of States, where the SP traditionally have had only a few seats, the party was able to increase its representation over the 2000s and now hold 12 out of 46 seats. In 2017, the party withdrew from theSocialist International and joined theProgressive Alliance. After losing a large vote share in the2019 elections to the green party the SP regained some of its 2019 losses in the most recent2023 elections and currently holds 41 seats on theNational Council obtaining 18.27% of the vote.
The SP is composed of around 900 sections across Switzerland, which exist at cantonal and municipal levels. Each of the 32,000 party members are registered in a local section and thus are members of both the cantonal and national parties. Local sections elect delegates to attend the regular party members' conferences; these delegates are entitled to vote in cantonal party conferences.
Each of the 26 cantonal sections (Valais is divided into two sections, namelyOberwallis andValais Romand) elect delegates for national party conferences. The number of delegates for each canton is equivalent to the number of seats that the canton has in theNational Assembly.
The SP has a youth party called theYoung Socialists Switzerland (JUSO/JS). The JS are independent of the SP in political terms but are supported by it financially and institutionally. Within the SP, the JS are seen as equivalent to a cantonal section and so they are entitled to send some delegates to party conferences. As of 2022, the president of the JS is Nicola Siegrist.[14] There is also a separate, smaller SP youth party calledJunge SP in theOlten region.
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The SP supports classicalsocial democratic policies,[15] as well as somedemocratic socialist ones, and has been described as one of the more left-leaning social democratic parties in Europe.[16][17] To that rule, the SP stands for a government offering strongpublic services. The SP is against far-reachingeconomic liberalism and hasanti-capitalist tendencies,[6][7] and is in favor ofsocial progressivism,environmental policy withclimate change mitigation, for an open foreign policy and a national security policy based onpacifism.[18]
In economic, financial, and socialwelfare policy, the SP rejects policies ofeconomic liberalisation such asderegulation, lowering taxes for high-income citizens, and decreases ingovernment spending onsocial insurance. The SP also opposes raising the retirement age. In addition, the SP is a proponent of increasing welfare spending in some areas such as for a publicly financedmaternity leave,universal health care and a flexible retirement age. In tax policy, the SP opposes the notion of lowering taxes for high-income citizens. By campaigning for the harmonisation of all tax rates in Switzerland, the SP seeks moreredistribution. The SP is skeptical toward theprivatization ofstate enterprises. Nonetheless, the SP also promotes morecompetition in the areas of agriculture andparallel imports.
In social policy, the SP is committed to social equity and anopen society. The SP aims at making working conditions for women in families easier by promoting more external childcare centers and more opportunities forpart-time jobs. It also aims at reinforcing sexual equality in terms of eliminating wage differences based on gender, supportscivil union forSame-sex couples and takes an easier stance toward abortions. The SP also rejects strengthening restrictions on asylum seekers and immigrants. The party supports the integration of immigrants by which the immigrants are assigned to immigration procedures immediately after entering the country. The SP has a liberal stance toward drugs and is in favor of publicly regulated heroin consumption and the legalization ofcannabis. Nevertheless, the SP supports thesmoking ban in restaurants and bars.
In foreign policy, the SP promotes further participation by Switzerland in international organizations. It supports immediate entry of Switzerland into theEuropean Union, while recentlysupported EU bilateral accords[19][20] The SP also stands for a less strict neutrality of Switzerland, and supports increased international efforts on the part of Switzerland in the areas of peace and human rights. However, the SP supports keeping the military neutrality and opposes entry intoNATO. Its pacifist stance is also reflected in its military policy as the SP supports reducing the number of Swiss militia while making the military apparatus more professional and scrappingconscription. Another demand of the SP is to end the tradition ofgun ownership, using severe and recent examples of abuse in terms of murder as proof.
The SP has commonenvironmentalist policies with theGreen Party of Switzerland which are reflected in the expansion ofecotax reforms and increased state support for energy saving measures andrenewable energies. The SP is against the construction of new roads where possible and instead proposes to shift the transportation of goods from the roads to the railways and the introduction of a cap and trade and traffic management system when it comes to transportation across theSwiss Alps. Furthermore, the SP stands for an expansion of the public transportation system network and opposesnuclear power.
In 2003, the party held 52 mandates out of 200 in theNational Council (lower chamber of the Swiss parliament); nine out of 46 in theCouncil of States (upper chamber) and two out of seven mandates in theFederal Council (executive body). By 2005, it held 23.8% of the seats in theCantonal governments and 23.2% in theCantonal parliaments (index BADAC, weighted with the population and number of seats). At the2023 Swiss federal election, the party won 18.27% of the popular vote and 41 out of 200 seats on the National Council.[21]
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | N/A | 3.6 (#5) | 1 / 147 |  1 | 5th |
| 1893 | N/A | 5.9 (#5) | 1 / 147 |  | 5th |
| 1896 | 25,304 | 6.8 (#4) | 2 / 147 | 1 | 4th |
| 1899 | 35,488 | 9.6 (#4) | 4 / 147 | 2 | 4th |
| 1902 | 51,338 | 12.6 (#3) | 7 / 167 | 3 | 4th |
| 1905 | 60,308 | 14.7 (#3) | 2 / 167 |  5 | 5th |
| 1908 | 70,003 | 17.6 (#3) | 7 / 167 | 5 | 4th |
| 1911 | 80,050 | 20.0 (#2) | 15 / 189 | 8 | 3rd |
| 1914 | 34,204 | 10.1 (#3) | 19 / 189 | 3 | 3rd |
| 1917 | 158,450 | 30.8 (#2) | 20 / 189 | 2 | 3rd |
| 1919 | 175,292 | 23.5 (#2) | 41 / 189 | 21 | 2nd |
| 1922 | 170,974 | 23.3 (#2) | 43 / 198 | 2 | 3rd |
| 1925 | 192,208 | 25.8 (#2) | 49 / 198 | 6 | 2nd |
| 1928 | 220,141 | 27.4 (#1) | 50 / 198 | 1 | 2nd |
| 1931 | 247,946 | 28.7 (#1) | 49 / 187 | 1 | 2nd |
| 1935 | 255,843 | 28.0 (#1) | 50 / 187 | 1 | 1st |
| 1939 | 160,377 | 25.9 (#1) | 45 / 187 | 5 | 2nd |
| 1943 | 251,576 | 28.6 (#1) | 56 / 194 | 11 | 1st |
| 1947 | 251,625 | 26.2 (#1) | 48 / 194 | 8 | 2nd |
| 1951 | 249,857 | 26.0 (#1) | 49 / 196 | 1 | 2nd |
| 1955 | 263,664 | 27.0 (#1) | 53 / 196 | 4 | 1st |
| 1959 | 259,139 | 26.4 (#1) | 51 / 196 | 2 | 1st[a] |
| 1963 | 256,063 | 26.6 (#1) | 53 / 200 | 2 | 1st |
| 1967 | 233,873 | 23.5 (#1) | 50 / 200 | 3 | 1st |
| 1971[22] | 452,195 | 22.9 (#1) | 46 / 200 | 4 | 2nd |
| 1975[22] | 477,125 | 24.9 (#1) | 55 / 200 | 9 | 2nd |
| 1979[22] | 443,794 | 24.4 (#1) | 51 / 200 | 4 | 2nd[a] |
| 1983[22] | 444,365 | 22.8 (#2) | 47 / 200 | 4 | 2nd |
| 1987[22] | 353,334 | 18.4 (#3) | 41 / 200 | 6 | 3rd |
| 1991[22] | 373,664 | 18.5 (#2) | 41 / 200 | 0 | 2nd |
| 1995[22] | 410,136 | 21.8 (#1) | 54 / 200 | 13 | 2nd |
| 1999[22] | 438,555 | 22.5 (#2) | 51 / 200 | 3 | 2nd |
| 2003[22] | 490,392 | 23.3 (#2) | 52 / 200 | 1 | 2nd |
| 2007[22] | 450,308 | 19.5 (#2) | 43 / 200 | 9 | 2nd |
| 2011[22] | 451,236 | 18.7 (#2) | 46 / 200 | 3 | 2nd |
| 2015[21] | 475,071 | 18.8 (#2) | 43 / 200 | 3 | 2nd |
| 2019 | 408,128 | 16.8 (#2) | 39 / 200 | 4 | 2nd |
| 2023 | 466,714 | 18.3 (#2) | 41 / 200 | 2 | 2nd |
| Canton | 1971 | 1975 | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 22.9 | 24.9 | 24.4 | 22.8 | 18.4 | 18.5 | 21.8 | 22.5 | 23.3 | 19.5 | 18.7 | 18.8 | 16.8 | 18.3 |
| Zürich | 20.9 | 23.9 | 26.5 | 23.0 | 17.4 | 18.8 | 23.1 | 25.6 | 25.7 | 19.8 | 19.3 | 21.4 | 17.3 | 21.1 |
| Bern | 31.0 | 31.0 | 30.5 | 28.3 | 22.3 | 20.0 | 24.7 | 27.6 | 27.9 | 21.2 | 19.3 | 19.7 | 16.8 | 20.7 |
| Luzern | 12.4 | 13.4 | 12.5 | 11.8 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 11.7 | 10.0 | 11.1 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 13.6 | 13.5 | 13.7 |
| Uri | *a | * | 23.0 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 21.5 | * | 22.3 | * |
| Schwyz | 29.0 | 29.3 | 22.6 | 21.0 | 14.3 | 19.4 | 19.9 | 16.4 | 17.6 | 13.9 | 15.7 | 13.1 | 13.8 | 10.9 |
| Obwalden | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 11.6 | * | * | 2.9 | * |
| Nidwalden | * | * | 10.6 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Glarus | 57.2 | 64.7 | * | * | * | 53.7 | 83.9 | 85.7 | 67.1 | 55.5 | 24.6 | 45.0 | 28.2 | 23.4 |
| Zug | * | 35.7 | 30.9 | 22.8 | 22.6 | 16.1 | 17.0 | 23.3 | 13.4 | 9.1 | 5.3 | 13.8 | 9.3 | 5.2 |
| Fribourg | 19.9 | 25.7 | 30.7 | 24.0 | 22.2 | 18.6 | 17.3 | 20.3 | 21.5 | 22.7 | 26.7 | 24.2 | 21.2 | 20.6 |
| Solothurn | 26.3 | 31.4 | 28.4 | 27.8 | 22.3 | 19.8 | 24.2 | 27.2 | 25.4 | 19.5 | 18.3 | 20.0 | 18.4 | 17.2 |
| Basel-Stadt | 30.4 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 31.0 | 25.9 | 25.3 | 35.5 | 33.3 | 40.9 | 35.2 | 29.1 | 33.3 | 32.7 | 31.8 |
| Basel-Landschaft | 28.2 | 30.3 | 31.4 | 32.5 | 22.8 | 24.4 | 25.3 | 23.3 | 24.7 | 25.2 | 24.4 | 22.2 | 21.8 | 24.7 |
| Schaffhausen | 40.2 | 37.2 | 35.3 | 35.4 | 39.2 | 34.2 | 37.8 | 33.6 | 39.7 | 34.2 | 34.6 | 28.8 | 26.2 | 27.4 |
| Appenzell A.Rh. | 37.4 | 40.1 | * | 23.6 | * | * | 21.9 | 29.6 | 19.9 | * | * | 28.6 | * | * |
| Appenzell I.Rh. | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 20.3 | 18.1 | 8.7 | * |
| St. Gallen | 14.6 | 15.1 | 18.0 | 16.3 | 11.4 | 13.1 | 16.2 | 17.1 | 18.4 | 14.7 | 16.7 | 14.2 | 12.7 | 12.7 |
| Graubünden | 13.9 | 15.2 | 20.5 | 24.6 | 19.5 | 21.2 | 21.6 | 26.6 | 24.9 | 23.7 | 15.6 | 17.6 | 17.1 | 17.8 |
| Aargau | 23.9 | 24.2 | 27.6 | 27.5 | 18.5 | 17.4 | 19.4 | 18.7 | 21.2 | 17.9 | 18.0 | 16.1 | 16.5 | 16.4 |
| Thurgau | 20.7 | 21.6 | 22.4 | 19.5 | 13.4 | 15.1 | 18.1 | 16.1 | 14.1 | 11.7 | 12.1 | 12.7 | 12.6 | 10.2 |
| Ticino | 13.1 | 13.9 | 15.2 | 13.8 | 9.3 | 6.7 | 17.1 | 18.8 | 25.8 | 18.1 | 16.6 | 15.9 | 14.1 | 12.5 |
| Vaud | 25.0 | 27.6 | 24.9 | 21.9 | 22.5 | 22.9 | 22.7 | 22.4 | 21.7 | 22.0 | 25.2 | 22.2 | 20.4 | 25.3 |
| Valais | 15.4 | 17.4 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 16.6 | 16.9 | 19.1 | 14.7 | 14.6 | 13.3 | 15.1 | 14.3 |
| Neuchâtel | 30.6 | 38.9 | 37.4 | 33.1 | 30.8 | 29.8 | 28.2 | 28.0 | 29.2 | 25.9 | 24.7 | 23.7 | 16.6 | 22.5 |
| Genève | 19.1 | 22.6 | 21.5 | 19.2 | 18.6 | 26.4 | 30.0 | 20.0 | 24.8 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 19.9 | 14.7 | 18.4 |
| Jura | b | b | * | 17.8 | 25.5 | 28.8 | 32.4 | 34.2 | 34.2 | 36.9 | 30.8 | 23.7 | 27.0 | 29.6 |
| 1888–1889 | Alexander Reichel |
| 1890–1891 | Albert Steck |
| 1892–1894 | Eugen Wullschleger |
| 1894–1896 | Wilhelm Fürholz |
| 1897 | Karl Zgraggen |
| 1898 | Paul Brandt |
| 1898–1901 | Otto Lang |
| 1901–1902 | Joseph Albisser |
| 1902–1908 | Gottfried Reimann |
| 1909–1910 | Eduard Kessler |
| 1911 | Hans Näher |
| 1912–1916 | Fritz Studer |
| 1916–1917 | Emil Klöti |
| 1918 | Jakob Gschwend |
| 1919 | Gustav Müller |
| 1919–1936 | Ernst Reinhard |
| 1937–1952 | Hans Oprecht |
| 1953–1962 | Walther Bringolf |
| 1962–1970 | Fritz Grütter |
| 1970–1974 | Arthur Schmid |
| 1974–1990 | Helmut Hubacher |
| 1990–1997 | Peter Bodenmann |
| 1997–2000 | Ursula Koch |
| 2000–2004 | Christiane Brunner |
| 2004–2008 | Hans-Jürg Fehr |
| 2008–2020 | Christian Levrat |
| 2020–present | Cédric Wermuth Mattea Meyer |
| 1943–1951 | Ernst Nobs |
| 1951–1953 | Max Weber |
| 1959–1969 | Willy Spühler |
| 1959–1973 | Hans-Peter Tschudi |
| 1969–1977 | Pierre Graber |
| 1973–1983 | Willy Ritschard |
| 1977–1987 | Pierre Aubert |
| 1987–1993 | René Felber |
| 1983–1995 | Otto Stich |
| 1993–2002 | Ruth Dreifuss |
| 1995–2010 | Moritz Leuenberger |
| 2003–2011 | Micheline Calmy-Rey |
| 2010–2022 | Simonetta Sommaruga |
| 2011–2023 | Alain Berset |
| 2023–present | Élisabeth Baume-Schneider[24] |
| 2024–present | Beat Jans |
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