[ad_1]
The BDP Switzerland wants to join forces with the CVP to form the new party “Die Mitte”. This was decided by its delegates in a meeting on Saturday without votes against, as announced by the BDP.
“I am convinced that with this brand we can get a lot more people excited about our content,” BDP President and National Counsel Martin Landolt (GL) told Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday. The BDP wants to stay true to its political line.
“We changed the packaging, not the content,” says Landolt. The goal is to emphasize the common strengths of BDP and CVP. Landolt is also convinced that the brand can change the political balance of power in the long term.
The political center was often perceived as undefined and fragmented, Landolt said. Now it is something completely new and unique that a party has “Die Mitte” in its name. The name will lead to a specification.
CVP will decide on November 28
The BDP delegates voted in the decentralized assembly with 58: 0 votes, with only one abstention for the merger. The ground for the merger was already level: the delegates had already adjusted the statutes in September with a view to the merger. And in the National Council, the three current representatives of the BDP have been politicizing in the middle parliamentary group for a year, along with the CVP and the PPE.
Before the new party “Die Mitte” becomes a fact, CVP Switzerland has to agree. On November 28, its delegates will decide on the merger with the BDP. If the CVP also said yes, the merged party could start on January 1, 2021, the BDP wrote.
If the CVP says yes, Landolt’s term as president ends at the end of the year. No specific office is planned in the new party, so Landolt. He wants to focus on his tenure as national councilor. “I will focus more on key political issues and expand my professional career,” he said.
Berner and Glarus also say yes
The cantonal parties of Bern and Glarus also approved the merger. Both BDP and CVP members have already given the go-ahead for this.
The decision of the cantonal party in Graubünden is not yet clear. In theory, the BDP could continue to exist at the cantonal level. The only obligation of the Swiss BDP to the cantons is to examine the merger issue and present it to the delegates.
The BDP Graubünden announced on Saturday that it would first await the decision of CVP Switzerland. If you also agree to the name change and the merger, the management would like to start discussions about the possibility of future cooperation with CVP Graubünden. However, members have the final say, said the BDP Graubünden.
Foundation around Widmer-Schlumpf
BDP Switzerland was founded in 2008. The foundation was preceded by a political coup: on December 12, 2007, the United Federal Assembly deposed Federal Councilor SVP Christoph Blocher and elected then-Vice-President Government Councilor of Grisons Widmer-Schlumpf to the Federal Council.
For the mother’s party it was like a betrayal. As punishment, Widmer-Schlumpf and with her the entire cantonal party were expelled from the SVP. On June 16, the Graubünden section, therefore, was initially renamed the Swiss Civil Party. There was also a split in the canton of Bern because of Federal Councilor Samuel Schmid: On June 21, 2008, renegades from the SVP of Bern founded the Civil Democratic Party (BDP).
In the first five years, the young party surprised with electoral success. By 2013 it had won 88 cantonal parliamentary seats and thus peaked. Nationwide, it achieved a 5.4 percent share of the vote in 2011. Beginning in 2015, however, the party lost electoral losses. One factor was that Widmer-Schlumpf, considered the party’s “front man,” resigned in 2015.
