Swiss rocked as voters swing sharply to the right

SWITZERLAND’S ultra-right People’s party (SVP) has rocked the country’s political system after emerging as the clear winner of Sunday’s general election.

The SVP's success threatens to tip the balance of power in the long-established system under which the four leading parties create a coalition government. The party demanded that it be given a second seat in the seven-member government and proposed Christoph Blocher, its controversial driving force, for a ministerial post.

The party beat even its own most optimistic expectations to capture more than 27% of the vote, according to exit polls. This was 4.7 percentage points ahead of the 22.5% it gained in the last elections in 1999, when it became Switzerland's dominant political force.