The remarkable stability of national elections in Switzerland for over sixty years after the introduction of proportional representation in 1919 came to an end with the rise of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) in the mid-1990s. Overall, party aliation—and hence stability of the electoral choice—has declined signicantly. As a result, situational factors, like issue salience, issue positioning, and long- and short-term campaign priorities, have become signicant for electoral choice. These changes have also intensied competition among parties, which have begun to centralize their election campaigns and deploy new campaign techniques. Yet, turnout remains low despite these changes: since 1979, turnout in National Council elections has been below 50 per cent. This is due to the complexity of the electoral system and the high frequency of votes in Switzerland’s direct-democratic system.