heartbeat? Breath? Reflexes? You moves? She’s still alive?
A bit of Martin Landolt itself is to blame for the talk about the state of his party. When journalists set out to feel in the regions of Switzerland, the pulse of the BDP, says the party President laconically of “disaster tourism”.
But quite wrong he has not. With each choice the weekend, the tragedy continues: In the cantons of Zurich and Basel-country, the BDP from Parliament overturned. In Lucerne, you still scored 0.3 per cent of the votes. By the end of the year the BDP are in Solothurn-MP for the FDP defected. The civic democratic party, up to the resignation of Federal councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, 2015, a factor of power in Switzerland, is about to disappear from the national image area.
What remains?
Since the turn of the Millennium were established in Switzerland, numerous parties , split and merged. The death of a national party, however, remains an extremely rare event. But when exactly are you allowed to declare you dead? And in General: How and why one party dies? What remains when she disappears? And what happens with your members, your goals, your values?
Monika Weber sitting in a cafe in Oerlikon, eyes closed, the gaze directed inwards.
for 35 years, Monika was Weber to the national ring of the Independent party of Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler. It was in 1971, among the first women in the Zurich cantonal Parliament. In 1982, she rose to the national Council, 1987, in the Council of States, and in 1992 it was LdU-President. Of your best of times, as every eleventh citizen chose the LdU, was the party at the time. But quitting Monika Weber never thought. Not Even For A Second. Until the elections in 1995.
The end delay
Monika Weber open eyes. “1.8 Per Cent Vote Share. It was a shock to the heart.” She would never have expected such a bad result. “Then, we started to talk openly about the resolution.” Many discussions later, the party leadership agreed to return to the LdU at a party Congress in 1996 to resolve. The end of a 60-year history, was sealed. Some of the Unyielding oppose and chose, in 1996, a successor to Monika Weber. “But it was clear that the end is delayed only. It was over,” she says.
image to enlarge
Why is it with the LdU in this way had to end, the white Monika Weber also about 20 years later, still not with absolute certainty. Various factors came together: Monika Weber believes that at some point, the personalities were missing, had worn the LdU for a long time. In addition, the direction could not be resolved fights between the ecological and the liberal wing.
And then also the main Partner of the LdU changed. Since its inception, Migros had financed the party and staff dominated. This Alliance was in the 80s, always a loser. At some point would have started at Migros, talks about whether or not other parties should receive financial contributions, says Weber. “Maybe we Migros had become uncomfortable. The company broke records every year in Sales, the LdU slipped, however, with each election.”
“It’s like with the stars. Some are extinct, but we see their light still.”Andreas Ladner, political scientist
Monika Weber’s political activity continued after the LdU: From 1998 to 2006 she was chair of the city of Zurich School and sports Department, starting in 1999 as a non-Party. A new political home has not found, however. If you encounter on the road, a former country Ringler, then immediately this feeling of familiarity, as they say. “Like when you meet the comrades of the former class. We have separated us.”
The perfect System
Michael Turner is in the premises of his Dr. Dreher, and partners, gold coast-real estate AG and scrabbles in a cupboard. He is looking for old issues of the “speedometer”. With the magazine Michael Dreher, founder of the car-party, denounced, from the mid-80s, “bus of terror” and speed limits. The car industry’s response, she filled the “speedo” with advertisements. Money and politics: a perfect System.
in 1999 but it worked. Driver party crashed. From seven to zero national Council seats. “I knew it on election night: this is The end,” recalls Turner. It got later still, a meeting took place in dübendorf, ZH. “There were slogans, is clear. But I had no desire to ventilate a corpse.”
political scientists and historians believe that the Auto party has suffered in 1999, the typical fate of a so-called einthemen party: The small movement with your niche topic is swallowed by a larger, more professional organization, in this case, the SVP.
Founded the Auto-party: Michael Dreher. Photo: Reto Oeschger
All wrong, Michael Dreher. Yes, the SVP has had a lot more money. Yes, the car party have not managed in some cantons, to find good staff. The real downfall of the Auto party had been long sealed before their election defeat in 1999, says Dreher. After the elections in 1991, as the car-party captured eight seats in Bern, which had various people on the party to change its name. “A national Council complained that he had to introduce to foreign guests as a “member of the car party”.” Under the impression of Jörg Haider’s success in Austria, you borrowed the label “The Liberal”, from the freedom party was soon. Dreher himself was in agreement.
“shame on me!” he says today. In the study at the HSG, he had learned from the American advertising pioneer Rosser Reeves, an iron law of Marketing: Every message need a “Reason Why” and a stand-alone feature. “The Auto party had both. But any of the freedom party? What is that supposed to be?”
Michael Dreher has an unsentimental relation to its political active period of time. He commends you on a particularly symbolic place. Three times he was chosen for the car party in the national Council. In 1987, 1991 and 1995. Three times, the Zurich cantonal Council sent him a signed election confirmation. Dreher has hung up the three letters precious framed and prominently. In the men’s room, in addition to other diplomas.
“that’s where you belong,” says Dreher. Then he laughs. A final victory over the Establishment.
vital
Also, science is not the same as dealing with the rise and decline of parties. Andreas Ladner, a political science Professor at the University of Lausanne, says: “New movements often arise when certain topics of the established groups are neglected. You lose your USP, they disappear again.”
In the individual case, but it was difficult to determine whether a party was still alive or already dead. As long as politicians, think actually still someone who will organize the election campaign and slogans decide. But we must not confuse visibility with vitality. “It’s like with the stars,” says Ladner. “Some are dead, but we see their light still.”
(editing Tamedia)
Created: 08.04.2019, 19:51 PM
