From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political party in Liechtenstein
The
Patriotic Union
(
German
:
Vaterlandische Union
,
VU
) is a
liberal-conservative
political party in
Liechtenstein
.
[6]
The VU is one of the two major
political parties in Liechtenstein
, along with the
monarchist
conservative
Progressive Citizens' Party
(FBP). The VU is the relatively more
liberal
of the two parties, advocating
constitutional monarchy
and greater
democracy
.
[12]
[13]
It is led by
Thomas Zwiefelhofer
and has ten members in the
Landtag
.
History
[
edit
]
The Patriotic Union was formed by the 1936 merger of the
Christian-Social People's Party
(VP) with the minor party
Liechtenstein Homeland Service
(LHD).
[14]
While the VP was the larger party, following the merger members of the LHD took prominent positions in the leadership of the new party.
[2]
After decades of being second to the Progressive Citizens' Party, the VU became the largest party in the
Landtag
for the first time as a result of the
1970 elections
. Although it lost the
1974 elections
to the FBP, it won the
1978 elections
and retained its Landtag majority until
February 1993
. However, early elections in
October 1993
saw it regain its majority, which it held until
2001
. After the
2005 state elections
, which brought in an all-time low of votes, the VU provided 10 of the 25 deputies and was represented by Deputy Prime Minister
Klaus Tschutscher
and Hugo Quaderer in the five-member government. The VU emerged as the clear winner from the
2009 state elections
and had an absolute majority in the state parliament for the 2009-2013 legislative period with 13 seats and provided the new head of government in the coalition government with the FBP. The Patriotic Union lost five seats in the state parliament in the
2013 state elections
and was then represented with eight seats and provided two of the four government councillors. In the
2017 state election
, the Patriotic Union was able to slightly increase its share of the vote by 0.2%, but still retained 8 of the 25 seats in the state parliament. In the
2021 state elections
, the VU achieved 10 out of 25 mandates and recorded a 2.1% increase in votes compared to the 2017 state elections.
Currently, its member
Daniel Risch
is the head of government. Furthermore, the party also has two members (
Dominique Hasler
and
Graziella Marok-Wachter
) as government councillors.
Ideology
[
edit
]
The party is liberal-conservative but has members that are more
socially conservative
, especially when comes to
LGBT rights
. It is also
economically liberal
, advocating a modern liberal market economy with
balanced budget
.
[15]
Election results
[
edit
]
Landtag elections
[
edit
]
Election
|
Leader
|
Votes
|
%
|
Seats
|
+/?
|
Rank
|
Government
|
1936
|
Otto Schaedler
|
|
|
?
|
2nd
|
Opposition
|
1939
|
|
3
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1945
|
1,285
|
45.28
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1949
|
1,285
|
47.07
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1953 (Feb)
|
1,229
|
42.60
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1953 (Jun)
|
1,541
|
49.57
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1957
|
1,537
|
47.64
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1958
|
1,537
|
45.53
|
|
1
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1962
|
1,448
|
42.73
|
|
1
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1966
|
Franz Nagele
|
1,581
|
42.79
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1970
|
Alfred Hilbe
|
2,008
|
49.57
|
|
1
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1974
|
16,356
|
47.26
|
|
1
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1978
|
Hans Brunhart
|
18,244
|
49.15
|
|
1
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1982
|
20,997
|
53.47
|
|
0
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1986
|
46,793
|
50.19
|
|
0
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1989
|
75,417
|
47.15
|
|
5
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1993 (Feb)
|
73,217
|
45.43
|
|
2
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
1993 (Oct)
|
Mario Frick
|
78,898
|
50.12
|
|
2
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
1997
|
82,786
|
49.3
|
|
0
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
2001
|
76,402
|
41.35
|
|
2
|
2nd
|
Opposition
|
2005
|
Heinz Frommelt
|
74,162
|
38.23
|
|
1
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
2009
|
Adolf Heeb
|
95,219
|
47.61
|
|
3
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
2013
|
Thomas Zwiefelhofer
|
65,118
|
33.55
|
|
5
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
2017
|
65,742
|
33.73
|
|
0
|
2nd
|
Coalition
|
2021
|
Daniel Risch
|
72,361
|
35.89
|
|
2
|
1st
|
Coalition
|
Leaders
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Represented in the
Landtag
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Other parties
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Defunct parties
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