Left targets Centre as election battle commences

The Social Democrats say Joseph Deiss prefers swimming to helping the unemployed. sp-ps.ch

Switzerland’s Social Democratic Party has raised the stakes ahead of October’s general election by launching an all-out attack on a cabinet minister.

The centre-left party started a billboard campaign on Monday, accusing the economics minister, Joseph Deiss, of not doing enough for the unemployed.

In a move possibly unprecedented in Swiss politics, the Social Democrats lashed out at Christian Democrat Deiss with a poster campaign aimed at forcing him out of the cabinet. Their suggested aim is to hand his seat to the rightwing Swiss People’s Party.

Such a move would mean the end of the “Magic Formula”, a power-sharing agreement – dating back to 1959 – in which Switzerland’s four main political parties divide cabinet seats among each other.

Monday’s attack on Deiss is the latest episode in the ongoing warfare between the two parties, which have often been partners on welfare and social issues in the past.

The Social Democrats have accused the Christian Democrats of leaning further and further to the right, and getting too cosy with the People’s Party.

The head of Social Democrats, Christiane Brunner, had warned that if the upcoming elections saw the People’s Party gain further influence, it had every reason to demand a second seat.

Losers

The Christian Democrats are the weakest of the four parties in government and therefore stand to be the losers if cabinet undergoes any reorganisation of its political makeup.

Why the centre-left Social Democrats are supporting a second seat for the rightwing has been the subject of much speculation.

Emanuel von Erlach, a political scientist at Bern University, says the move could be a way of forcing the People’s Party to abandon its strategy of being both in government and opposition.

The rightwing party has only one cabinet seat – the other parties have two – and it is renowned for using its minority position in the cabinet as an excuse to act as an opposition party.

Balance of power

“If you integrate the People’s Party more, the balance of power will shift to the right, which could make it easier for the Social Democrats to play the opposition game,” von Erlach told swissinfo.

The billboard campaign against Deiss has also crossed over to Internet. In a mock survey on the Social Democrats’ website, surfers are invited to give their opinion on Joseph Deiss’ efforts to fight unemployment.

None of the four options are particularly flattering for the economics minister. “We believe Deiss is being too passive in dealing in dealing with a dramatic situation,” said Jean-Philippe Jeannerat, spokesman for the Social Democrats.

Reacting to the campaign, Deiss said it was unfair. “It suggests we are doing nothing to fight unemployment when we are really doing everything we can,” he told Swiss radio.

Vulnerable

Von Erlach says Deiss has been singled out because the economic downturn makes him vulnerable and because the Christian Democrats’ other minister, Ruth Metzler, is a woman.

For their part, the Social Democrats say the two centre-right parties – Deiss’s Christian Democrats and the Radicals – have been moving further and further to the right in the past four years.

“We believe that is necessary to criticise these parties,” Jeannerat told swissinfo. “We want them to clarify their positions before the elections.”

The Christian Democrats accuse their left-leaning opponents of tactics more commonly associated with populists such as French rightwing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen or his Austrian counterpart, Jörg Haider.

Extreme

“This kind of attack is the sort of the thing you expect from parties at the political extremes,” the party’s secretary general, Reto Nause, told swissinfo. “I am worried it will poison the political atmosphere in Switzerland.”

The Christian Democrats also believe the Social Democrats suffer from selective memory, since they complained in the past about personal attacks from the People’s Party against one of their former ministers, Ruth Dreifuss.

Nause says the Social Democrats’ attacks are aimed at the wrong target.

“We have always been more open to change than the People’s Party,” he added. “We said yes to joining the United Nations, and we have always demanded a better deal for families.”

Jeannerat admits the personal attacks may go against the grain, but says money has much to do with the choice of strategy.

Cheap shots

“We don’t have as much money as the other parties, so we have to hit hard,” he said. “But we aren’t taking cheap shots at anybody, we simply want to have a real debate.”

Jeannerat warns that this type of political communication is probably here to stay, with the country’s most important politicians being held personally responsible for their policies.

“We’ll find out in October though if this type of campaign is really worth the trouble,” he told swissinfo.

In von Erlach’s view, the Social Democrats have taken this unusual step to “differentiate themselves” from other parties and to make clear to the voters what they will get if they vote Social Democrat.

“It’s a risky strategy,” he said,” because moderates could say we don’t want that.”

swissinfo, Olivier Pauchard and Scott Capper

In brief

The Social Democratic Party has launched a billboard campaign against the economics minister, Joseph Deiss, accusing him of not doing enough to help the unemployed.

It is the latest move by the Social Democrats against the centre-right Christian Democrats in the lead-up to national elections in October.

Last week, the Social Democrats’ president suggested giving a second cabinet seat to the populist rightwing People’s Party after the elections, a seat that would have to be surrendered by the Christian Democrats, the weakest member of the four-party government coalition.