Swiss rocked as voters swing sharply to the right
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.