The Patriotic Union (german: Vaterländische Union, VU) is a

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

. The VU is one of the two

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

political parties in Liechtenstein Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, along with the

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

Progressive Citizens' Party. The VU is the more liberal of the two parties, advocating

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

and greater

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

. It is led by Thomas Zwiefelhofer and has ten members in the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

History

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). While the VP was the larger party, following the merger it was members of the LHD who took prominent positions in the leadership of the new party. After decades of being the second party to the Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP), the VU became the largest party in the

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 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

. After winning the 2009 elections the party lost the 2013 elections to the FBP.

Electoral history

Landtag elections

Leaders

Notes

References

External links

* 1936 establishments in Liechtenstein Catholic political parties Christian democratic parties in Europe Political parties in Liechtenstein Political parties established in 1936 {{Liechtenstein-party-stub