This paper looks at fundamental characteristics of party organizations in the two federalist countries Switzerland and Canada. It addresses the question to what extent different forms of federalism directly affect the organization of political parties, and raises multi-dimensional questions such as: Do political parties in both countries operate the same way? To what extent are party organizations on national and on subnational level independent? How are candidates or party leaders on higher level selected? How is membership organized? Are there any financial transfers between the different layers of parties and how is party funding organized?