The FPS was founded 1984 in Zürich by Dr. Michael E. Dreher and other right-wing politicians as Autopartei (Automobile Party).

It was intended to counter the then upsurging Green Party of Switzerland and the contemporary concerns about forest dieback due to acid rain.

Despite renaming itself to "Freedom Party" in 1994, the FPS lost all national mandates in the 1999 elections and, as of 2006, retains but a very few parliamentary seats in some cantonal and municipal parliaments.

Its leader Jürg Scherrer has been (unsuccessfully) sued several times under Swiss anti-discrimination laws on account of his disparaging statements about Africans and foreigners in general.

The unhampered wave of immigration of the last ten years has caused criminality and drug problems in Switzerland to escalate drastically.