ZURICH (Reuters) - The editor-in-chief of the Swiss current affairs magazine Die Weltwoche will run for parliament as a candidate of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) in upcoming elections, cementing the close ties between the magazine and Switzerland's political right.
Roger Koeppel, editor and publisher of the right-leaning Weltwoche, will stand as a candidate for the SVP's Zurich chapter, which is also home to billionaire-turned-politician Christoph Blocher, a leader of the party.
The SVP, Switzerland's largest party, has unnerved investors and the business establishment with plans to cut immigration and demote international law. It has broadened its influence through media outlets.
Under Koeppel's patronage, Weltwoche has moved from its original centre-left leaning to backing the SVP, supporting its ultimately successful initiative to impose limits on immigration from the European Union.
The magazine says on its website it has a circulation of around 58,000 copies, but the SVP's influence is also evident in other, more widely read publications.
Blocher is part-owner of the daily newspaper Basler Zeitung, which is edited by Markus Somm, the author of a 2009 biography of Blocher.
Last year, outraged reporters at Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Switzerland's oldest newspaper, blocked an attempt to install Somm as editor there, in a dispute reflecting a wider battle over the direction of Swiss politics.
Switzerland will hold parliamentary elections in October.
(Reporting By Alice Baghdjian and Katharina Bart; Editing by Larry King)
