Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (, BDP; , PBD; , PBD; , PBD; Swiss Democratic Bourgeois Party) was a conservative political party in Switzerland from 2008 to 2020. After the 2019 federal election, the BDP had three members in the National Council. It was founded as a moderate splinter group from the national-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC); it was created as a political party on the federal level on 1 November 2008. It was led by Martin Landolt. It had, until January 2016, one Federal Councillor, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, whose election in defiance of the SVP/UDC incumbent Christoph Blocher led to the creation of the party. It comprised most of the SVP/UDC's old centrist-agrarian wing, which had been overshadowed in recent years by its nationalist-activist wing. The party's name in German, French, Italian and Romansh came from "bourgeois", the traditional European term for a centre-right party. On 1 January 2021, the party merged with the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) to form the new party The Centre (DM/LC). Cantonal parties were allowed to continue operating under the existing BDP/PBD name.