Word: blocher
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Blocher's tactful departure is not resonating within the SVP. In a terse statement posted by the country's leading party on its website, it accuses legislators of retaliating against Blocher out of "jealousy and frustration over our successes." And because the lawmakers replaced Blocher with a moderate member of his own party, who might try to blunt the sharper edges of her predecessor's hard-line policies rather than toe the official stance, the SVP has threatened to leave the government and form an opposition party. The move would undermine Switzerland's 50-year-old "magic formula" under which...
...ministers leave the Federal Council out of their own volition - has been hotly debated on the streets and in the highest reaches of government. Although some members of his party were visibly upset when the election results were announced, the center and left parties, which joined ranks to vote Blocher out of the office, expressed their satisfaction that "democracy has prevailed." And, in a nationwide survey conducted shortly after the election, 60 percent of Swiss citizens said they were happy about Blocher's exclusion. "There is a big sense of relief that the legislators were brave enough to force this...
...came into the Cabinet with a bang left with a whimper - and a rare show of humility to boot. "Even though I am not leaving my post voluntarily, I am not bitter," Blocher told the politicians assembled in the parliament to bid him farewell. He also apologized for any offenses, insisting "it was never my intention to hurt anyone...
...Aside from shaking up Switzerland's placid political scene, Blocher's downfall "will not have any radical impact in terms of policy or stability," Lutz says, because under the Swiss system of direct, grass-roots democracy voters can challenge any legislative decision by launching a referendum...
...terms of Switzerland's image abroad, where Blocher's antics have been generating headlines, no major changes are expected either. "We are not known around the world for the SVP or Blocher," Lutz says. "We are known for Roger Federer and chocolate...