The Green Party of Switzerland (; ; ; ) is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is the fifth-largest party in the

National Council of Switzerland The National Council (; ; ; ) is a house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, representing the people. The other house, Council of States, represents the states, preventing more populous parts of the country overpowering the rest. As the p ...

and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.

History

The first

Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

in Switzerland, MPE, was founded as a local party in 1971 in the town of

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

. In 1979, Daniel Brélaz was elected to the National Council as the first Green MP on the national level (in Switzerland and in the world). Local and regional Green parties and organisations were founded in many different towns and

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

in the following years. In 1983, two different national green party federations were created: in May, diverse local green groups came together in Fribourg to form the ''Federation of Green Parties of Switzerland'', and in June, some left-alternative groups formed the ''Green Alternative Party of Switzerland'' in Bern. In 1990, an attempt to combine these organisations failed. Afterward, some of the member groups from the ''Green Alternative Party'' joined the ''Federation of Green Parties'' which has become the ''de facto'' national Green party. In 1993, the ''Federation of Green Parties'' changed its name to the ''Green Party of Switzerland''. In 1986, the first two Green members of a cantonal government became members of the ''Regierungsrat'' of Bern. In 1987, the Green Party of Switzerland joined the

European Federation of Green Parties The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–Eur ...

. In the 1990s, members of the Green Party became town mayors, members of the high court, and even the president of a cantonal government (

Verena Diener Verena Diener (27 March 1949 – 28 June 2024) was a Swiss politician. A member of the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland she represented the canton of Zürich in the National Council from 1987 to 1998 and in the Council of States from 2007 to ...

in 1999). In 2007, the centrist wing of the party split away and formed the

Green Liberal Party of Switzerland The Green Liberal Party of Switzerland (, GLP; , PVL; , PVL; , PVL), is a green-liberal political party in Switzerland. Founded in 2007, the party holds eleven seats in the Federal Assembly as of the October 2023 election. The party was formed ...

. With the rise of right-wing and populist attitudes, the Greens continued to lose support in Switzerland. In the 2023 federal election, they came in fifth place, after their split from the “liberals”.

Policies

The party has been described as being

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

. The traditional emphases of the party's policies lie in

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

and green means of transportation. In terms of foreign policy, the greens set out on the course of openness and

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

. In economic policy, the Greens are

. The majority of Greens support an accession of

to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In immigration policy, the greens support further integration initiatives for immigrants. The Greens support measures to increase energy efficiency, oppose

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

, and support raising energy and fuel prices. According to their policy, the resulting revenues should be allocated to

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

spending.

Popular support

National Council and Council of States

On the national level, in 2003 the Green Party was not represented in the Council of States or Federal Council. In 2007, two Green Party members were elected to the Council of States. By 2005, the party held 3.8 per cent of the seats in the Swiss cantonal executive governments and 6.9 per cent in the Swiss cantonal parliaments (index "BADAC", weighted with the population and number of seats). In 2007, the Green Party was represented in the governments of the cantons

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Basel-City,

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(two ministers),

Nidwalden Canton of Nidwalden or Nidwald ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Stans. It is traditionally considered a " half-canto ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

(two ministers) and

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Party strength over time

:1.* indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton. :2.Part of the Canton of Bern until 1979.

Party presidents

This is an incomplete list of the presidents of the Green Party since 1990: * Irène Gardiol (1990–1992) *

(1992–1995) * Hanspeter Thür (1995–1997) * Ruedi Baumann (1997–2001) * Patrice Mugny (co-president; 2001–2004) * Ruth Genner (2001–2008; co-president until 2004) * Ueli Leuenberger (2008–2012) * Adèle Thorens Goumaz (co-president; 2012–2016) * Regula Rytz (2012–2020; co-president until 2016) * Balthasar Glättli (2020–2024) *

Lisa Mazzone Lisa Marie Mazzone (; ; born 25 January 1988) is a Swiss politician who currently serves as President of the Green Party of Switzerland since 2024. She previously served as a member of the Council of States (Switzerland) from 2019 to 2023, the ...

(since 2024)

Notes and references

External links

Official website

Official website

Official website

Swiss Greens International
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Party Of Switzerland Green political parties in Switzerland Non-interventionist parties

Swiss Climate Alliance