عبد الكريم قاسم
The party was closely linked with the government of Abd al-Karim Qasim, in which, out of fourteen ministers, three (Finances, Agriculture, Guiding) were NDP members, one (Foreign Affairs) was 'close to NDP', and two (Development, Communications) were former NDP members, all either Arab Sunnis, Arab Shias or Kurdish Sunni.