I won't be able to vote for quite another number of years in CH, like most on a B permit, but I am nonetheless very keen to learn more about the politics of my host country. On election night, I kept switching from French speaking to "German" speaking channels and tried to work out the matching names of political parties in both languages, but I am missing a couple, + not quite sure of their English denomination, as it is my own interpretation of what I could understand. Could someone fill in the gaps/correct me, so that I get a much clearer picture. Many thanks!

French German English
PS SP Socialist Party
Les Verts Die Gruene The Green Party (leaning to the
left)
PDC CVP Social Democrats (historically
Catholics) = conservative
PLR FDB Lib Liberals (historically
Protestants)
Verts liberaux GLP Green Party (leaning right)

Parti Bourgeois ? ?
Democrate

UDC SVP Swiss People Party (very right
wing!)
Mouvement des Mvt des Citoyens Complete Bonkers party, funny
Citoyens de Geneve de Romandie how their name changes across
the Roesti Grabe to give them
more importance!

Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei (BDP) in German. Formed by members of the SVP/UDC who split or were excluded from that party. They are to the right, but without the populist/xenophobic aspects of the SVP as far as I can see. They don't seem to have much of a presence in Suisse romande yet.

Edit: One you are missing is the POP (Parti ouvrier et populaire), over to the left of the socialists. I don't know if they are purely Romand or if there is a Swiss German equivalent.

The POP is the Romand remainder of what in other parts of Switzerland was the PdA (Partei der Arbeit) and so more or less the Communist Party

MCG = Mouvement citoyen genevois or Mouvement des citoyens genevois.
http://www.mcge.ch/

There is no equivalent in the Swiss german part.
In canton Ticino there is La Lega (= la lega dei Ticinesi)
http://www.legaticinesi.ch/

Members of both party think that the specific problems and challenges of their respective canton at the border with Italy/France are not taken into consideration by other party and in the Parliament.

The MCG is fairly Geneva-nationalist. It may be hated across the border. They may turn against "les Alémaniques" later on. Let's not ignore the fact that Geneva only joined Switzerland as the less evil choice in 1815 and not out of enthusiasiasm

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The Lega got established to further the interests of the TICINESI ! Compare this to Zürich. Zürich is 1/6 of CH .... Zürich is the defacto-capital of CH, so what ? All Ticino politicians who moved up into the federal government did so on the basis of their good connections to Zürich as most TI politicians are ZH educated, as Zürchers tend to support their former TI colleagues throughout. There in fact is a sizeable TI community in Zurigo which will keep up the link

I think in English the CVP are called the Christian Democrats - the Social Democrats are SP! (They're bascially the equivalent to your Labour Parties in English speaking countries).

Wouldnt you quite simply call them the green-liberals in English? At least thats how they appear on Wikipedia (which by the way is a great de-facto translation tool...)

I don't think their name changes across the Roeaschtigraben. They were Mvt des Citoyens Genevois always was their name as they only existed in Geneva. Due to their recent successed they changed their names to "...de Romandie" to incorporate areas outside Geneva too. In the recent cantonal elections, they appeared as Mvt Citoyens Vaudois.

Just browsing on Wiki, found this nice summary of al your political parties in the countries in all languages.

MCG = Mouvement citoyen genevois or Mouvement des citoyens genevois.
http://www.mcge.ch/

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what objectives and policies this party has. can anyone give me a short explanation?

I was just curious as to why, on the same night, they were referred to as MCG on TSR Channel but as MCRomandie on SRF. It clearly does not have the same geographical impact.

That was very useful Tomberli, thanks!

They are quite hard to pinpoint because they change alliance and political discourse on a regular basis, they combine some left wing social policies with some extreme right wing rethorics. So they can fight for cheaper health insurance for low income (Swiss) families while at the same time calling for a total ban of movement for workers between the French and Swiss borders (oblivious to the fact that a lot of Swiss live in France, unable to afford the rents in Geneva). They draw a lot on the historical battle of "L'Escalade" in 1602, when the Genevans successfully fought back an attack by the troops of the Duke of Savoie, to create a "siege" mentality among local voters. That is what I have picked up so far, from their campaigns, posters etc..., but it is a very fragmented picture. Sorry I can't be of greater help.

The MCG is the one with all the hatred!