Alternative Left

Alternative Left
German name	Alternative Linke (AL)
French name	La Gauche (LG)
Italian name	La Sinistra
Founded	29 May 2010
Headquarters	2722 Les Reussilles
Membership  (2011)	2,000
Ideology	Democratic socialism
Political position	Left-wing
National Council	1 / 200
Council of States	0 / 46
Website
www.la-gauche.ch
Politics of Switzerland Political parties Elections Swiss Federal Council Federal Chancellor Federal Assembly Council of States (members) National Council (members) Voting

The Alternative Left (German: Alternative Linke; French: La Gauche; Italian: La Sinistracode: it is deprecated ), or The Left in translation from French and Italian, is a political party of the left in Switzerland. This party seeks to unite the political forces and movements farther to the left on Switzerland's political spectrum than the center-left Social Democratic Party and the Green Party.

Their sole current National Council of Switzerland member was until 2011 Josef Zisyadis, who was elected in 2007 for the Swiss Labour Party. He was still a member of the SLP, but in official publications he was only a member of the Alternative Left.

History

2. congress in Zurich.

After an opening party congress on November 21, 2009, in Schaffhausen, the party was officially founded six months later at the congress of Lausanne on May 29, 2010. In that congress the party presented a program of 9 important political points. The third congress took place in Zurich on 5 March 2011, where party members voted to launch a national referendum blocking the flat-rate tax incentive favoring foreign millionaires which financial lobbies had sought to enthrone as a Swiss constitutionial amendment. The same referendum in the canton of Zurich, originating with the Alternative List, was earlier approved in that Canton by Zurich's voters with a 52.9% majority in February 2009. The third congress was at the 30th juny in Biel with a discussion with Stéphane Hessel in the afternoon.

Sections

In total the "Alternative Left" counts actually six official sections:

• Alternative Linke Bern
• La Gauche Valais Romand
• La Gauche Arc jurassien
• La Gauche Vaud
• La Gauche Nyon
• La Gauche Genève

In the French-speaking part of Switzerland the members of the party come mainly from the Swiss Party of Labour, solidaritéS, Les Communistes and independents. The section in Bern is a newly created one, the section in Valais was already founded 2007 at an earlier election rally.

There are also other groups, that are involved in the AL, but they arent official members of the party:

• Alternative List Zürich
• Alternative List Winterthur
• Alternative List Limmattal
• Alternative List Schaffhausen
• La Sinistra Ticino

Electoral results

Parliament

National Council
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–
2011	21,482	0.88	0 / 200	—

References

• Numerous Swiss national press clippings dealing with events cited in French, German, and Italian texts
• Correspondence and proceedings emanating from 2009 Congress at Schaffhausen and 2011 Congress in Zurich

External links

• (German) (French) (Italian)