( CNN ) -- A far-right party recorded the biggest ever share of the vote for a political party in Switzerland 's history on Monday , after a controversial campaign that blamed foreigners for much of the country 's crime . A Swiss People 's Party supporter waves a sticker featuring the Swiss flag during Sunday 's elections . The nationalist Swiss People 's Party headed by Christoph Blocher rode a wave of anti-immigration sentiment to gain 29 percent of the vote . The Green Party also scored well in Sunday 's vote winning 20 seats in the 200-seat National Council , Switzerland 's lower house of parliament . It previously held six seats , making this the Green Party 's best ever showing . The Social Democrats remain the second-largest party , despite dropping to 43 seats after gaining 19.5 percent of the vote , while the People 's Party added seven extra seats , taking its total to 62 . The nationalists dismissed criticism of their campaign -- derided as racist by leftist groups -- and insisted that they were only trying to address legitimate public concerns . `` Public security in Switzerland is in danger . We have a lot of foreigners committing crimes . And the Swiss people are very sensitive to that , '' Gregor Rutz , the party 's Secretary General told CNN . The gains made by the nationalists will not result in radical changes to the make-up of the government , however , since Switzerland is run by a form of consensus politics . Under the Swiss system , a multi-party coalition runs the country by convention with ministers appointed from the main parties . Although the make-up of the government will stay almost unchanged , political analysts said the success of the People 's Party and its hostile rhetoric reflected a growing , but worrying trend in Switzerland . `` This may be a surprise for those outside of Switzerland but not for us , '' Hans Hilter , a political scientist at Bern University , told CNN . `` This type of very negative campaigning has been a feature of previous campaigns by them ( the People 's Party ) and reflects concerns among a wide number of people that immigration levels are too high . '' Foreigners comprise a quarter of the Swiss workforce and make up around 20 percent of the population of more than 7 million . The immigrant community is dominated by Albanians , Bosnians , and Turks , though most were denied a vote in Sunday 's election because of the difficulty of gaining Swiss citizenship . On the streets of this Alpine country , the polarizing campaign provoked accusations of racism against the Swiss People 's Party and rioting in the capital Bern . Blocher 's party was widely criticized after an ad campaign featuring a poster of a white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag . The party also called for immigrant families to be thrown out of the country if their child committed a crime . In this usually tolerant country , the hardline approach proved popular as voters unhappy at rising immigration levels handed the Swiss People 's Party the best-ever election result , surpassing the Radical Democrats ' victory of 28 percent of the vote in 1919 . At the same time as the nationalist gains , the country elected its first black politician to the National Council , Ricardo Lumengo , who accused Blocher 's party of `` scapegoating '' . `` They are showing that we foreigners are responsible for everything that is bad and we found that they are just simple arguments . We condemn it , '' he told CNN . Lumengo , who came to Switzerland as an asylum seeker from Angola , added : `` It shows that in this country there is no social justice . A part of the population , they are living well , they have a good salary . But a big quantity of the population , they are living in the phenomenon of the working poor . '' E-mail to a friend . CNN 's Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report .
Nationalists ride anti-immigrant wave in Swiss elections to win record share . Switzerland to be ruled by coalition under system of consensus government . Score: 6 Greens , also in coaltion , make gains by appealing to environmental concerns .