Christian Democratic Appeal

The Christian Democratic Appeal,  (shortened CDA), is a political party in the Netherlands. It was the merger of three major former political parties: Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and Catholic People's Party (KVP).

The CDA was officially founded on 11 October 1980 as a result of the merger of three old Christian parties: the originally Reformed Christelijk-Historische Unie (CHU), the Reformed Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), and the Catholic People's Party (KVP), which were also known as 'the three major confessional parties.' The creator of the new alliance was Piet Steenkamp. However, the three parties had already been in talks about this since 1967, within the Group of Eighteen, which included representatives from the respective parties. The main point of discussion was the concept of 'Christian politics.' From 1918 to 1980, these separate parties were almost continuously part of the government. The CDA has been represented in the House of Representatives since 1977 and has held government responsibility, except during the purple cabinets under Kok between 1994 and 2002 and the Rutte II cabinet (2012-2017). 

From 1982 to 2006, the party was very popular in the Netherlands. Their support was strongest in the 1986, 1989, 2002, 2003 and 2006 elections. In the 2010 elections, they lost 20 seats and received less than half of the votes from the previous election. In the 2012 elections, they received 801,620 and lost 8 more seats. In the 2017 elections they won 19 seats (+6), in the 2021 elections 15 (-4), and in the 2023 elections 5 (-10).

The party supports Christian democracy. The party can also have Jewish, Muslim and Hindu members of parliament. The party heavily supports the European Unionhttps://www.cda.nl/standpunten/europese-unie/ (Dutch) and environmentalism.https://www.cda.nl/standpunten/milieu/ (Dutch) They call themselves a moderate party, but they have been in an alliance with the centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. The CDA believes that the toleration of "soft drugs" like marijuana should stop,https://www.cda.nl/standpunten/drugs-alcohol-en-tabak/ (Dutch) and practices like abortionhttps://www.cda.nl/standpunten/abortus/ (Dutch) and prostitution should be limited. They also want a more friendly and open immigration policy. However, they do want immigrants to integrate into Dutch culture.https://www.cda.nl/standpunten/immigratie-en-integratie/ (Dutch)

On 12 June 2021, MP Pieter Omtzigt left the CDA and became an independent politician.Pieter Omtzigt quits the CDA after nearly 20 years as an MP, DutchNews.nl, 12 June 2021

 Political leaders 
 Dries van Agt - 1976-1982
 Ruud Lubbers - 1982-1994
 Elco Brinkman - 1994
 Enneüs Heerma - 1994-1997
 Jaap de Hoop Scheffer - 1997-2001
 Jan Peter Balkenende - 2001-2010
 Maxime Verhagen - 2010-2012
 Sybrand van Haersma Buma - 2012-2019
 Pieter Heerma - 2019-2020 (actually only parliamentary leader)
 Hugo de Jonge - 2020
 Wopke Hoekstra - 2020-2023
 Henri Bontenbal - 2023-

 References 

 Other websites 
 Website of the Christian Democratic Appeal

Category:Christian democratic parties
Category:Political parties in the Netherlands
Category:Christianity in the Netherlands
Category:1980s establishments in the Netherlands
Category:1980 establishments in Europe