Christian Democratic Appeal facts for kids

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The Christian Democratic Appeal, Dutch: Christen-Democratisch Appèl (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 party was established on 11 October 1980. 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). The party leader is Wopke Hoekstra (former leaders Hugo de Jonge and Sybrand van Haersma Buma).

The party supports Christian democracy. The party can also have Jewish, Muslim and Hindu members of parliament. The party heavily supports the European Union and environmentalism. They call themselves a moderate party, but they have been in an alliance with the centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.

Images for kids

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  Piet Steenkamp, founder and chairman from 1973 until 1980.

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  Dries van Agt, CDA Leader from 1976 until 1982 and Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1977 until 1982.

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  Ruud Lubbers, CDA Leader from 1982 until 1994 and Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 until 1994.

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  Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, CDA Leader from 1997 until 2001.

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  Jan Peter Balkenende, CDA Leader from 2001 until 2010 and Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 until 2010.

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  Wopke Hoekstra, CDA Leader since December 2020.

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  Pieter Heerma, Leader in the House of Representatives since 2022.

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  Esther de Lange, Leader in the European Parliament since 2019.

See also

In Spanish: Llamada Demócrata Cristiana para niños