Green parties record membership increase

The results of the October parliamentary elections in Switzerland appear to have a limited impact on membership figures of the political parties. Keystone/Martial Trezzini

The two main winners of Switzerland’s parliamentary elections have recorded a marked increase in the number of registered members. 

A survey by the Swiss news agency, Keystone-SDA, found that the left-wing Greens and the centrist Liberal Green Party both boosted their membership by about 25%. 

The Greens now have about 10,500 registered members while the smaller Liberal Greens say they grew to have 5,100 members. 

Both groups attribute their success to a political agenda notably focused on environmental and climate issues, as well as their clear stance against right-wing populism. 

The four main parties lost between 0.3% and 3.8% in last October’s elections.  

The small centre-right Conservative Democratic, which saw its share of the vote drop to 1.7%, said the number of members declined by 500 to 5,500. 

The right-wing People’s Party, the biggest group in the House of Representatives, currently has about 80,000 members, the left-wing Social Democrats have just over 31,000, while the centre-right Radical Party boasts 120,000 registered members. The centrist Christian Democrats declined to release figures. 

October’s parliamentary elections saw the two Green parties making major gains, increasing their share of the vote to 13.2% and 7.8% respectively. 

Overall, there are about 5.4 million Swiss citizens eligible to take part in votes and elections.