Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland
The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland (German: Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz), Swiss Evangelical Party (French: Parti évangelique suisse, Italian: Partito Evangelico Svizzero), or Evangelical Party of Switzerland (Romansh: Partida evangelica da la Svizra) is a Protestant Christian-democratic political party in Switzerland, active mainly in the Cantons of Bern, Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, Aargau and Zürich. "Evangelical" translates as evangelisch, the German term for "Protestant", as opposed to "evangelical" as used in Anglo-Saxon Christianity.
Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland | |
|---|---|
| German name | Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz (EVP) |
| French name | Parti évangelique suisse (PEV) |
| Italian name | Partito Evangelico Svizzero (PEV) |
| Romansh name | Partida evangelica da la Svizra (PEV) |
| President | Lilian Studer |
| Founded | 1919 (P. Christian Protestant) 1994 (Swiss Evangelical P.) |
| Headquarters | Josefstrasse 32 Case Postale 3467 8021 Zürich |
| Membership (2015) | 4,600 |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Social conservatism Stewardship theology |
| Political position | Economic: Centre to centre-left Social: Centre-right |
| European affiliation | European Christian Political Movement |
| Colours | Yellow Blue |
| National Council | 2 / 200 |
| Council of States | 0 / 46 |
| Cantonal Executives | 1 / 154 |
| Cantonal legislatures | 39 / 2,609 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Swiss Federal Council Federal Chancellor Federal Assembly Council of States (members) National Council (members) Voting | |
The EVP is conservative on euthanasia, abortion, registered partnerships and other typically Christian issues, centrist on economic issues and stands rather centre-left on issues of wealth redistribution, education, environmentalism and immigration. Among other things, it claims to be "dedicated to protecting the environment out of a sense of responsibility for Creation" and states that "the ethical values of the Bible should be the foundation of society."
The EVP is a member of the European Christian Political Movement (EPCM) and was previously an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP) until 2008. In the Federal Assembly of Switzerland the EVP forms a joint group along with the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) and the Christian Social Party of Obwalden (CSP OW).
In February 2023, in a shock result, Thomi Jourdan of Basel-Landschaft's EVP – which has a voter base of less than 4 % in that canton – was elected into the state government, and will join four centrist-leftist-green colleagues. He is the first EVP government member on the state or federal level in Swiss history. This was due to a very active campaign from his side, and a lackluster one of his SVP opponent, national councillor Sandra Sollberger, who only appealed to right-wing voters. She also cited a lack of time which prevented her from campaigning properly.