Republican Movement (Switzerland)

The party was formed by James Schwarzenbach as a breakaway from the National Action against the Infiltration of People and Homeland party in 1971.[1][2] It received 4.3% of the vote in the elections that year,[3] winning seven seats.[4] However, in the 1975 elections the party's share of the vote fell to 3% and it was reduced to four seats.[3][4] The 1979 elections saw the party lose the majority of its support as it was reduced to 0.6% of the vote and won only one seat.[3][5] It saw another fall in its vote share to 0.5% in the 1983 elections,[3] but retained its single seat.[5] In 1987 its vote share fell to just 0.3% and it lost its only seat.[6][5] The party was subsequently dissolved on 22 April 1989.[1][2] Most of its members joined the Federal Democratic Union.[7]

The Republican Movement supported anti-immigrant and anti-establishment policies, as well as fundamentalist Protestant Christian views.[7]

In 1972 the Republican Movement officially associated itself with the anti-immigrant Vigilance, which was founded in 1964 and based in the Canton of Geneva.[8] They presented themselves as an electoral alliance three years later.[8]

• Skenderovic, Damir (2009). The radical right in Switzerland: continuity and change, 1945-2000. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-84545-580-4.