# Chaldean Democratic Party

The Chaldean Democratic Party (Syriac: ܓܒܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܛܝܐ ܟܠܕܝܐ), also known as the Chaldean Democratic Union or the Chaldean Democratic Union Party, is an Assyrian Christian democrat political party from Iraq and within the autonomous Kurdish region. The political party was primarily geared towards and aimed to represent Chaldean Catholic Assyrians.
At its height of activity, the party had one member in the Iraqi National Assembly, Ablahad Afraim Sawa, who was elected in both January 2005 and December 2005. The party won the Christian reserved seat in the 2009 Basra governorate election. The party was also well known for its sectarian viewpoints, often denying Assyrian identity in place of a Chaldean one.

## History

The party began its activities after the US invasion of Iraq, when the group were licensed to operate in the Kurdish region and joined the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. Supposedly, the party itself began in the year 2000, and in 2003, received its license and opened its first office. The party was founded by Ablahad Afraim Sawa, who would go on to become its leading figure, and received support from the Chaldean National Congress to begin its operations.
The party was not known to collaborate with other Assyrian political parties unless they shared similar views on a sectarian Chaldean identity. However, there were some occasions where the party participated in meetings with other groups, such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement.
Sawa has previously commented on the restrictions that minority political parties faced in Iraq after the invasion, stating that they were given very few resources and even had to withdraw from elections at a point because of a lack of funding. Additionally, Sawa has previously contested Kurdish influence on Assyrian politics in Iraq, despite him winning a seat through the Kurdish bloc. His comments were published through various WikiLeaks articles in the mid to late 2000s.

## Electoral history

The CDP first participated in Iraqi elections with the January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election. The party joined the Kurdistani list and won a seat in parliament. In the same year, the party won once again in the December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election, running under the Kurdish list which received the most votes in Tel Keppe and Tesqopa in the Nineveh governorate. The CDP was elected in the December elections under the Democratic Alliance of Kurdistan.
After 2005, the party has only won one other election, winning the reserved Christian seat in the Basra governorate, running as part of its own list. In the 2009 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election, the party ran as part of a United Chaldean List, separate from KDP support but winning no seats. Similar results were shown in the 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election.
The party ran as part of a Chaldean Coalition alongside the Chaldean National Congress and other independents in the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election. The coalition won a seat under the Church-backed Chaldean League, but the party received no representation.

## Criticism

Much like other Chaldean political parties, the CDP has been criticized in the past for its affiliation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In a report written by the Assyrian Policy Institute, the group noted that the party had never been able to win any seats in government without the affiliation of a KDP-bloc or receiving funding, noting that its participation in elections were always failures. The report also noted other points about the CDP; in contrast to the Assyrian Democratic Movement and other parties, the CDP only had two offices in Tesqopa and Alqosh, despite advocating for a "Chaldean nation".
The Assyrian Democratic Movement has also criticized the CDP and other Chaldean political parties after the US invasion of Iraq. While directed towards the Chaldean National Congress, Zowaa's statement noted that the membership of these parties were very few in number, and they hadn't actively addressed the continuous demographic changes that Assyrians were facing from the violence of the conflict.

## Modern activity

Since the 2020s, the party has continued to surface in name through public statements and smaller activities in the Assyrian homeland, but much like other KDP-affiliated Assyrian parties, are largely considered inactive in Iraqi politics. In 2024, the party joined a new Christian alliance led by Ano Abdoka, which includes the inactive Syriac Assembly Movement, Chaldean National Congress, and the Chaldean Catholic Church-backed Chaldean League, as well as representatives of Armenian organizations. However, the alliance was criticized by Assyrian communities due to the inactivity of the present parties, including the CDP. The party also took part in boycotting the 2024 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election after the revocation of minority seats for Christians.
In the same year, the party released an official statement welcoming the return of Louis Raphaël I Sako to Baghdad after the reinstatement of his decree. The party also had a delegation sent to meet with the directorate of Syriac culture in Ankawa, stressing the need for cooperation across the Assyrian community.
As part of the 2024 Iraqi census, the party took part in a collective statement calling on the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government to follow the Iraqi constitution in regards to properly representing Chaldean-Assyrian demographics, emphasizing that it was a historic move for the country.