How a century-old Swiss political powerhouse dissolved into a new centrist identity

Countries & Cities · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded in 1912 as a Catholic conservative force, the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland dominated national politics for decades. Yet, shifting voter loyalties and internal decline eventually forced a radical transformation. In 2021, the party merged with the Conservative Democratic Party to reinvent itself as The Centre.

The party began its life as the Catholic Conservative Party in 1912, finding its strongest support in the Catholic-dominated rural regions of Central Switzerland and Valais. By the 1950s, it reached the height of its influence, holding three of the seven seats on the Federal Council. This era of dominance was eventually tempered by the introduction of the 'magic formula' in 1959, a power-sharing arrangement that required the party to relinquish one of its cabinet positions.

As the 20th century progressed, the party underwent several rebrandings, adopting its final name, the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP), in 1970. However, the party faced a long-term erosion of its traditional voter base. Starting in the 1990s, many conservative voters migrated toward the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party. This decline was punctuated by the 2003 federal election, where the CVP lost a second seat on the Federal Council to the Swiss People's Party, leaving it with only one representative in the executive branch.

In response to these electoral struggles, party leadership initiated a strategic pivot. Throughout 2020, CVP President Gerhard Pfister and Conservative Democratic Party leader Martin Landolt negotiated a merger to consolidate centrist influence. The move resulted in the formation of The Centre, a new political entity ratified in November 2020. While the national organization adopted this new branding on January 1, 2021, the legacy of the CVP persisted in some regional and cantonal organizations until 2024, marking the end of a century-long chapter in Swiss political history.

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