The Centre

The Centre or Alliance of the Centre is a centre-right political party in Switzerland. It was formed through the merger of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland (CVP/PDC) and the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (BDP/PBD). Following the formal merger of the parties on 1 January 2021, it has 28 of 200 seats in the National Council and 13 of 46 seats in the Council of States. Viola Amherd is the party's representative on the Federal Council. History The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland (CVP) was founded in 1912 as the Catholic Conservative Party of Switzerland, becoming the Conservative-Christian-Social People's Party in 1957. In 1970, the name changed to the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland. Over time, the party's dependence on Catholic and rural voters resulted in a deterioration of its vote share nationally, but most especially in urban areas. In the four largest cantons of Zürich, Bern, Vaud and Aargau, the CVP held only three of 94 seats in the National Council. It later ceded one of its two seats on the Federal Council to the SVP in accordance with the Magic formula used to derive party strength on the nation's executive. From the 1995 election to the 2019 election, the CVP's vote share decreased from 16.8% to 11.4%. After the 2003 election, Ruth Metzler of the CVP, was replaced by Christoph Blocher of the Swiss People's Party on the Federal Council, leaving the CVP with only one seat in the country's executive. The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (BDP) was founded on 1 November 2008 after moderate members of the Swiss People's Party (SVP), who supported the election of Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf over SVP leader Christoph Blocher to the Federal Council, were expelled by the national SVP and formed the new party. It remained a regional party with strength in Bern, Glarus and Grisons, but little support elsewhere in the country. The parties had discussed a political alliance similar to that of the CDU/CSU in Germany from 2012 to 2014, but those negotiations failed. BDP President Martin Landolt openly discussed a merger after the 2019 elections when both parties saw their share of the vote drop from 2015. The parties agreed to a merger in September 2020 and both ratified the merger during 2020. The primary opposition to the change was among members who did not want to drop the "Christian" affiliation for the party.