Renamed Swiss political party seeks new voters

One of the oldest Swiss political groups, the Christian Democratic Party, has officially been named the Centre after merging with Conservative Democratic Party. Delegates of the Christian Democratic Party on Saturday overwhelmingly voted in favour of the merger. The Conservative Democrats approved the project two weeks ago. The move went ahead despite opposition by some cantonal chapters of the Christian Democrats which argued it was wrong to drop the reference to religion in its name. The Christian Democrats traditionally have their roots in Catholic regions of the country. Their predecessor party has been a major force after the foundation of modern Switzerland in the 19th century even though the Catholic Conservatives were defeated by the Radical and Liberal forces during the civil war in the 1840s. The Christian Democrats have been losing ground in Swiss politics over the past four decades, notably with the rise of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. With a share of...