President Martin Bäumle | Members of the Federal Council None | |
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German name Grünliberale Partei (glp) French name Parti vert'libéral (pvl) Italian name Partito Verde-Liberale (pvl) Romansh name Partida Verda-Liberala (pvl) | ||
The Green Liberal Party of Switzerland (German: Grünliberale Partei der Schweiz, glp; French: Parti vert'libéral, pvl), abbreviated to glp, is a centrist Green liberal political party in Switzerland. Founded in 2007, the party holds seven seats in the Federal Assembly as of 2017.
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The party was formed on 19 July 2007 by four cantonal branches of the Green Party. Contesting the election in October 2007 in St. Gallen and Zurich, the party won three seats in the National Council. A month later, the party won a seat in the Council of States, with Verena Diener representing Zurich. The party has since expanded across Switzerland, and holds seats in thirteen cantonal legislatures in German-speaking Switzerland and the Romandy. The party reached 5.4% at the 2011 federal election, increasing the number of Members of the National Council from 3 to 12, but suffered a setback in 2015 retreating to 7 seats with 4,6% of the national vote.
The Green Liberals are a party of the political centre, as opposed to the left Green Party. They seek to combine liberalism on civil liberties and moderate economic liberalism with environmental sustainability. The party has an autonomous parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland after the last federal election.
History
The party was founded on 19 July 2007 by four cantonal parties of the same name that had seceded from the Green Party. These branches were in Basel-Landschaft, Bern, St. Gallen, and Zurich.
In the 2007 election to the National Council on 22 October 2007, the party ran in Zurich and St. Gallen. Despite being limited to only two cantons, the party won 1.4% of the popular vote nationwide and 3 out of 200 seats. In Zurich, they won 7% of the vote. One of these three had been a National Councillor for the Green Party in the previous Parliament.
A month later, it won a seat in the Council of States, with Verena Diener representing Zurich. Along with the first appearance of the Green Party, this was the first time a minor party had won representation in the Council of States since 1995. When the Federal Assembly convened, the glp joined the Christian Democrats/EPP/glp Group, making it the second-largest group, behind the Swiss People's Party. In 2010 the party got an additional seat in the Council of States with Markus Stadler from Uri.
There are now eighteen cantonal parties: Zurich, St. Gallen, Basel-Country, Bern, Zug, Thurgau, Basel-Stadt, Graubünden, Lucerne, Aargau, Solothurn, Fribourg, Vaud, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Glarus, Schwyz and Schaffhausen.