BERN: Marco Chiesa said Thursday he was stepping down as head of the hard right Swiss People's Party, which comfortably topped Switzerland's general election in October.
Chiesa, 49, has led the SVP since August 2020 and took the party to the third best result in its history, winning 28 percent of the vote and an additional nine seats in the National Council lower house of parliament.
"I have achieved my goals, and the commitment and cohesion withing the party are good," he said in a statement on the party's website. Chiesa told the party leadership committee that he will not stand again as a candidate when his term of office ends on March 23 next year.
"The SVP regrets the decision of its president, but thanks Marco Chiesa for his great contribution," the party said. The SVP's election campaign focused on its favourite theme: the fight against "mass immigration" and the prospect of the Swiss population reaching 10 million.
The SVP has come a long way from its roots as a farmers' party in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, becoming a national force focused around three key principles: no to mass immigration, no to closer ties with the European Union, and no to the abandonment of Swiss neutrality.
Chiesa, from the Italian-speaking Ticino region, was the party's first leader from outside the German-speaking cantons and is credited with helping to broaden the party's reach.
"Marco Chiesa's strong presence among the party base helped us a lot, especially in French-speaking Switzerland," said party vice president and campaign manager Marcel Dettling.
Each of Switzerland's 23 full cantons has two representatives in the Council of States upper house of parliament. Chiesa represents Ticino in the chamber, having retained his seat in the October elections.
Chiesa said he would now focus on working "even harder for the well-being of the Ticino population, which is suffering massively from asylum chaos and excessive immigration."
A quarter of the population of Switzerland, a wealthy European country of 8.8 million people, are foreign nationals. The seven seats in the Swiss government are shared out 2-2-2-1 among the four largest parties. The government takes its decisions by consensus and collective responsibility.
SVP delegates will choose their new party leader at a March 23 meeting in Bern. — AFP
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