According to Pascal Sciarini, professor of political science at Geneva University, the People's Party's recent electoral success is down to its tough line on foreigners, the European Union and the UN, and it is now a prisoner of this strategy.
"They have to keep the fires burning, and that means they have to come up with new ideas and at the same time harden their stance," he said.
Sciarini cited the initiatives against minarets and foreign criminals as evidence of the People's Party's desire to push an ever-harder line and to keep control of the immigration debate.
"They are getting more intelligent and more subtle, and are the best when it comes to marketing their policies and attracting the media's attention," he said. "They are polarising people more and more: you are either for them or very much against."
Calmy-Rey's comments came on the same day that the People's Party was ordered by a judge to remove a campaign video from its website.
Footage showed staged scenes of youth violence and pictures of foreigners juxtaposed with picture-postcard scenes of Switzerland, along with the message: "Heaven and Hell".
The ruling came after seven of the youths featured complained they had been duped into taking part.