German Swiss center-left Zwinglian (followers of the doctrine of Huldrych Zwingli) party begun in 1917 as the Christian-Protestant Party, which operated exclusively in the Canton of Zurich. Party was restructured as the Evangelical People's Party [Evangelische Volkspartei (EVP)] in 1919 by its founding 'steward' Arnold Muggli, who was also its first General Secretary. Party trended with the English PEP (People's Evangelical Party) until 1999, hoping to attract interest beyond Zurich with a commonly spoken language in polyglot Switzerland. Party then initiated a campaign to widen its appeal among the French Swiss, penetrating Romandy in March 12, 2004 with its first branch in Vaud, and calling itself the Parti évangélique suisse (PEV) [simply, Swiss Evangelical Party, ex "People's"]. Party has been led by National Councilor Lilian Studer since June 19, 2021 [Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz (EVP)].
