[lincolnq]

I think culturally, because “explicit is better than implicit” (from the Zen of Python). Switch statements have a lot of implicit-ness to them (implicit invocation of equality comparison, to start) and it never seemed quite necessary, given how spare Python syntax is anyway.

[andreareina]

I'd say the opposite: switch is explicitly about comparing a single variable against an enumerated set of possibilities, the equivalent if/elif construct has those same semantics only implicitly. The surface area of what switch/case means is very small and compact.

[nsajko]

You choose to interpret a switch statement through an if statement, but that's arbitrary: the other way around is also possible (interpreting/rewriting an if-else construction as switch statements).

[jfkebwjsbx]

The point of GP is that the match assumes an equality test and it does it against a single object too.

There is no way in many languages to write an if using a match.