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Swiss People's Party (SVP / UDC)

image by M. Schmöger, 23 October 2007

About the flag
Vaud local section
Thal local section
Beach flags

See also:

About the Flag

SVP (Schweizerische Volkspartei)
UDC (Union démocratique du centre)
UDC (Unione Democratica del Centro)
UDC (Uniun Democratica dal Center)
(Swiss People's Party / Democratic Union of the Center)

This party is currently the biggest party in Switzerland having 55 seats in the 200-seat lower chamber of the Swiss Parliament (Nationalrat = National Council). Two SVP members are ministers in the federal government (Bundesrat = Federal Council). The SVP is a right-conservative party that has in the recent past based its electoral success on right-populist activism including anti- European and anti-immigration sentiments. Surprisingly, I was not able to find any trace of the use of a party flag, although I checked the federal party website as well as the cantonal websites of the party. This is in contrast to the practice of the other major parties in Switzerland, that at least sometimes are using party flags.
M. Schmöger, 26 November 2006

Last weekend's parliamentary elections in Switzerland (with additional votes and seats for the SVP) has also brought about some media reports. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (19 Oct 2007, p. 8) has reported about the campaign, showing a photograph of a SVP rally. This time they used flags!

The older version of the logo only had the inscription of the party abbreviation (SVP and UDC) on a green field. The newer version shows a bar in two shades of green with a smiling yellow sun featuring the Swiss flag. On the green bar there is the party abbreviation in white, either in one language only or in both. The party flags used during that rally are square, white with the newer version of the logo in two languages. I don't know how frequently this flag is used, but the internet shop at the party website does not provide them. I'm not sure if the flag comes only in the two-language version or also in single-language versions.
M. Schmöger, 23 October 2007

Over the last 20 years, the right-conservative SVP has become the largest party in Switzerland, at least on a federal level, now having 65 out of 200 seats in the federal parliament.

The current symbol is a combination of a smiling sun with the party abbreviation(s), either in one or two languages, on two streaks of different shades of green; in the upper left corner there is a small Swiss flag. This is frequently combined with a number of changing slogans.

Flag usage has grown over the years, from almost non-existent ten years ago to fairly comparable to other Swiss parties. The main flag is white with the symbol (party abbreviation SVP and UDC). This comes in a number of variants, though; the main variation is the size of the symbol and the ratio of the flag, from almost square to rather elongate.
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

image by M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

Full-sized flags have a ratio of roughly 2:3; although they can be bought in the party shop [1], they are otherwise rarely used [2].

image by M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

Small hand-waving flags are usually a bit shorter and much more widely used [3,4,5,6,7,8].
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

image by M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

Another version of small flags comes in an almost square shape [9,10,11].
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

image by M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

A very specific flag can be bought at the party shop [1]. It is red with the party symbol in the lower hoist; the red field contains seven Swiss crosses of different sizes [12,13].
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

image by M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

In 2009, I had found a small photo of a table flag on the WWW; the photo has now disappeared from the WWW. It looks like a rather home-made flag; the logo is a bit different: the sun is larger, and there is a blue background behind the sunrays.
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

[1] http://www.svp-ruettenen.ch/svp_fahnen_shop/shop_deutsch/
[2] http://www.20min.ch/diashow/40186/svp-dc62ab33ecce6282101a51fdfaefa1ee.jpg
[3] http://test.20min.ch/diashow/155088/155074-cb01f6bf87b67af42aa2a18899f77c62.jpg
[4] http://f.blick.ch/img/aktuell/origs906725/5625568477-w644-h429/bern-krawall.jpg
[5] http://files.newsnetz.ch/story/2/7/5/27521530/4/topelement.jpg
[6] http://www.20min.ch/diashow/14410/06982326.jpg
[7] http://www.dealzone.ch/bilder/svp-fahne.jpg
[8] http://www.laliberte.ch/media/image/5/normal/20140617214455770.jpg
[9] http://www.svp-sh.ch/assets/Galerien/svp-familienfest-2011/_resampled/SetWidth1200-DSC0225heller.jpg
[10] http://www.svp-sh.ch/assets/Galerien/svp-familienfest-2011/_resampled/SetWidth1200-DSC0133.JPG
[11] http://www.svp-sh.ch/assets/Galerien/svp-familienfest-2011/_resampled/SetWidth1200-DSC0142.JPG
[12] http://images.nzz.ch/eos/v2/image/view/620/-/text/inset/57c65a7f/1.18490671/1424885329/svp-waadtland.jpg
[13] http://f.blick.ch/img/aktuell/origs435661/6090146323-w980-h653/SVP-Feier-Bern.jpg
M. Schmöger, 23 December 2015

Vaud local section

image by M. Schmöger, 2 January 2016

In the canton Vaud, the SVP/UDC uses a beach flag with the slogan "Ma maison - notre Suisse" (My home - our Switzerland) and the cantonal section's URL (www.udc-vaud.ch); in top the French-language symbol (with slogan "Pour un canton fort" = For a strong canton), in base the party abbreviation "UDC" in green [33,34].

[33] http://www.rts.ch/2015/06/23/11/40/6878715.image
[34] http://www.rtl.be/info/GED/01270000/1270200/1270246.jpg
M. Schmöger, 2 January 2016

Thal local section

image by M. Schmöger, 2 January 2016

The local section of Thal in the canton St. Gallen uses a square white flag with the German symbol (including slogans "Schweizer Qualität" = Swiss quality and "Die Partei des Mittelstandes" = The party of the middle class) rotated by 90° [35].

[35] https://assets.rheintaler.ch/uploads/image/file/17909/909/storydetail_large_Vereinsfahnen.jpg
M. Schmöger, 2 January 2016