Contents

Centrist Democrat International

Political international

Centrist Democrat International

Abbreviation	CDI (English), IDC (French, Spanish)
Formation	30 July 1961 (1961-07-30)[1]
Purpose	Liberal democracy Social Justice Centrism
Headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	109 political parties
Official languages	French English Spanish
President	Andrés Pastrana Arango
Subsidiaries	Youth of the Centrist Democrat International
Affiliations	Christian Democrat Organization of America (ODCA) European People's Party (EPP) National Democratic Institute (NDI) Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS)
Website	idc-cdi.com

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The Centrist Democrat International (CDI; Spanish: Internacional Demócrata de Centro, IDC) is a centrist political international inspired by the values of Christian Democracy.^[2] Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian Democrat and People's Parties International.^[2] This earlier name is still sometimes used colloquially.

It is the primary international political group dedicated to promoting Christian democracy. Although it attracts parties from around the globe, its members are drawn principally from Europe and Latin America.^[3] Although in recent years, the Centrist Democrat International has expanded its presence in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. This has led to the development of the IDC.Africa, the Centrist Democrat International's regional organization in Africa.

Overview[edit]

The IDC-CDI was formed in 1961 in Santiago, Chile, as the Christian Democrat World Union, building on the legacy of other Christian democrat internationals which were an alternative to the socialist internationals who tried to create a Christian-inspired third way. In 1999, it was renamed the Centrist Democrat International due to the participation of groups from other religions such as the Islamic National Awakening Party (PKB) of Indonesia.

The September 2001 leadership conference in Mexico City changed the organization's name to Centrist Democrat International, retaining its original CDI acronym. References to religion were not allowed in many Asian and African countries, and the IDC-CDI would not have been able to extend into Asia and Africa without a name change.^[4]

The IDC-CDI's European division is the European People's Party, the largest European political party.^[5] Its American equivalent is the Christian Democrat Organization of America. The Democratic Party of the United States maintains links with the IDC-CDI through the National Democratic Institute.

Timeline[edit]

• December 1925: The first international gathering of Catholic-Christian democratic parties takes place in Paris, establishing the Secrétariat International des Partis Démocratiques d'Inspiration Chrétienne (SIPDIC). Member parties were from Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, and Lithuania.
• 1939 to 1945: World War II suspends the SIPDIC.
• 23 April 1947: Political leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay meet in Montevideo to create an international organization of Christian democratic parties. Representatives from Bolivia and Peru participate via diplomatic correspondence. The Declaration of Montevideo establishes the Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América (ODCA), although the name is not formalized until their second meeting in July 1949.
• 3 June 1947: European Christian Democrats form the Nouvelles Équipes Internationales (NEI) in Chaudfontaine, Belgium, prompted by the Swiss a year before restarting the SIPDIC. The NEI, open to non-Catholic parties who subscribed to the principles of social democracy, sees European integration as the best way to prevent the spread of communism into western Europe and encourages exile groups from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia to attend. The NEI plays a significant role in preparations for the Hague Congress and the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community.
• 26 July 1950: The Christian Democratic Union of Central Europe (CDUCE) is formed in New York City to assist Christian democratic parties in exile by organizing forces in opposition to communism. By 1955, it begins working with underground operatives in the Soviet bloc while trying to coordinate efforts between European and Latin American Christian Democratic parties.
• May and July 1956: The ODCA, NEI, and CDUCE meet for the first time in Paris at a gathering of 33 delegations from 28 countries to discuss the creation of a global Christian democratic organization.
• 1960: The three regional Christian democratic organizations establish the Christian Democratic International Information and Documentation Centre (CDI-IDC) in Rome to provide political analyses for Christian democratic parties around the world.
• 1961: The World Union of Christian Democrats (WUCD) is established in Santiago.
• 1982: The WUCD changes its name to the Christian Democrat International (CDI).
• 1999: The CDI changes its name to the Centrist Democrat International due to the increasing membership of non-Christian political parties. Since October 2000, some have informally referred to the CDI as the Christian Democrat and People's Parties International.^[2]

CDI member parties are generally members of the ODCA or the European People's Party (EPP, the successor of NEI).

Executive committee[edit]

The IDC-CDI executive committee consists of the president, secretary-general, and vice-presidents. The president is Andrés Pastrana ArangoofColombia and the Secretary-General is MEP Antonio López-IstúrizofSpain.^[6]

Members of the executive committee are:

• Andrés Pastrana Arango (Colombia) – President
• Antonio López-Istúriz (Spain) – Secretary-General
• César Maia (Brazil) – Vice-President
• Lourdes Flores Nano (Peru) – Vice-President
• Mariana Gómez del Campo (Mexico) – Vice-President
• Andrés Hernández (Cuba) – Vice-President
• Janez Janša (Slovenia) – Vice-President
• Viktor Orbán (Hungary) – Vice-President
• Andrej Plenković (Croatia) – Vice-President
• Elmar Brok (Germany) – Vice-President
• Yara Suos (Cambodia) – Vice-President
• Muhaimin Iskandar (Indonesia) – Vice-President
• Juan Edgardo Angara (Philippines) – Vice-President
• Amine Gemayel (Lebanon) – Vice-President
• Adalberto Costa Jr. (Angola) – Vice-President
• Desirée Anne Ouloto (Ivory Coast) – Vice-President
• Nizar Baraka (Morocco) – Vice-President
• Pier Ferdinando Casini (Italy) – Honorary President
• José María Aznar (Spain) – Honorary President
• Ofelia Acevedo (Cuba) – Honorary Vice-President
• Mario David (Portugal) – Honorary Vice-President
• Ulisses Correia e Silva (Cape Verde) – Vice-President ex-officio
• Manfred Weber (Germany) – Vice-President ex officio
• Riccardo Pozzi (Italy) – Treasurer

Member parties[edit]

Country	Party	Abbr	Government	Lower Chamber	Upper Chamber
Albania	Democratic Party of Albania	PD	Opposition	46 / 140 (33%)
Algeria	National Rally for Democracy	RND	Junior party in coalition	58 / 407 (14%)	21 / 144 (15%)
Angola	National Union for the Total Independence of Angola	UNITA	Opposition	90 / 220 (41%)
Argentina	Christian Democratic Party	PDC	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 257 (0%)	0 / 72 (0%)
Armenia	Rule of Law	OEK	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 107 (0%)
	Republican Party of Armenia	RPA	Opposition	4 / 107 (4%)
Aruba	Aruban People's Party	AVP/PPA	Opposition	7 / 21 (33%)
Bangladesh	Bangladesh Nationalist Party	BNP	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 350
Belgium	Christian Democratic and Flemish	CD&V	Junior party in coalition	12 / 150 (8%)	5 / 60 (8%)
Belgium	Les Engages	LE	Opposition	5 / 150	2 / 60
Botswana	Botswana National Front	BNF	Opposition	2 / 65 (3%)
Brazil	Brazilian Social Democracy Party	PSDB	Opposition	14 / 513 (3%)	2 / 81 (2%)
Burkina Faso	Union for the Republic	UR	Opposition	0 / 127 (0%)
Cambodia	National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia	FUNCINPEC	neither government nor opposition	5 / 125 (4%)	2 / 62 (3%)
	Cambodian People's Party	CPP	Government	120 / 125 (96%)	58 / 62 (94%)
Cape Verde	Movement for Democracy	MPD	Government	38 / 72 (53%)
Chile	Christian Democratic Party	PDC	neither government nor opposition	8 / 155 (5%)	3 / 43 (7%)
	National Renewal	RN	Opposition	23 / 155 (15%)	11 / 50 (22%)
Republic of China	Chinese Nationalist Party	KMT	Opposition	38 / 113 (34%)
Colombia	Colombian Conservative Party	PCC	Government	25 / 188 (13%)	15 / 108 (14%)
	New Democratic Force	NFD	Opposition	0 / 187	0 / 108
	Democratic Center	CD	Opposition	15 / 188 (8%)	13 / 108 (12%)
	Colombia Justa Libres	CJL	Opposition	0 / 188	1 / 108
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Movement for the Liberation of the Congo	MLC	Opposition	22 / 500 (4%)	14 / 108 (13%)
Costa Rica	Social Christian Unity Party	PUSC	Opposition	9 / 57 (16%)
Croatia	Croatian Democratic Union	HDZ	Government	62 / 151 (41%)
Cuba	Christian Liberation Movement	MCL	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 470 (0%)
	Christian Democratic Party of Cuba	PDCC	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 470 (0%)
Curaçao	National People's Party	NVP/PNP	Opposition	4 / 21 (19%)
Cyprus	Democratic Rally	DISY	Government	17 / 56 (30%)
Czech Republic	KDU-ČSL	KDU–ČSL	Junior party in coalition	22 / 200 (11%)	12 / 81 (15%)
Dominican Republic	Social Christian Reformist Party	PRSC	Opposition	5 / 190 (3%)	5 / 32 (16%)
Dominican Republic	Dominicans for Change	DxC	junior party in coalition	2 / 190	1 / 32
El Salvador	Christian Democratic Party	PDC	Opposition	1 / 84 (1%)
France	The Republicans	LR	Opposition	61 / 577 (11%)	148 / 348 (43%)
Gabon	Gabonese Democratic Party	PDG	Opposition	98 / 143 (69%)
Georgia	European Georgia — Movement for Liberty		extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 150
Germany	Christian Democratic Union	CDU	Opposition	152 / 736 (21%)	22 / 69 (32%)
Greece	New Democracy	ND	Government	158 / 300 (53%)
Guinea	Parti de l'espoir pour le développement national	PEDN	extraparliamentary opposition
Guinea-Bissau	Party for Social Renewal	PRS	Opposition	12 / 102 (12%)
Equatorial Guinea	Popular Action of Equatorial Guinea	APGE	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 100 (0%)	0 / 70 (0%)
Hungary	Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance	FIDESZ	Government	116 / 199 (58%)
	Christian Democratic People's Party	KDNP	Government	19 / 199 (10%)
Indonesia	National Awakening Party[7]	PKB	Government	58 / 575 (10%)
Italy	Union of the Centre	UdC	support to the government in the Senate	1 / 400 (0.3%)	1 / 200 (0.5%)
	Associative Movement of Italians Abroad	MAIE	Junior party in coalition	1 / 400	1 / 400
Ivory Coast	Rally of the Republicans[8]	RDR	Government	127 / 255 (50%)
Kenya	Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya	WDM-K	Opposition	25 / 349 (7%)	3 / 67 (4%)
Lebanon	Lebanese Forces	LF - Chrisitan Resistance	Opposition	19 / 128 (15%)
	Kataeb	Phalange	Opposition	4 / 128 (3%)
Madagascar	Malagasy Miara-Miainga	MMM	Opposition
Malawi	Malawi Congress Party	MCP	Government	55 / 193 (28%)
Mali	Union for the Republic and Democracy	URD	extraparliamentary opposition	19 / 147 (13%)
Malta	Nationalist Party	PN	Opposition	35 / 79 (44%)
Mauritania	Union for Democracy and Progress	UDP	junior party in coalition	10 / 176 (6%)
	Equity Party	El Insaf	in government	107 / 176 (61%)
Mauritius	Parti Mauricien Social Democrate	PMSD	Opposition	4 / 70
Mexico	National Action Party	PAN	Opposition	114 / 500 (23%)	18 / 128 (14%)
Morocco	Istiqlal Party		Junior party in coalition	81 / 395 (21%)	24 / 120 (20%)
Mozambique	Democratic Movement of Mozambique	MDM	Opposition	6 / 250 (2%)
Nicaragua	Conservative Party (Nicaragua)	PC	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 90
North Macedonia	Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – People's Party	VMRO	Government	1 / 120
Panama	People's Party	PP	extraparliamentary opposition	2 / 71 (3%)
Panama	Panameñista Party	PP	Opposition	8 / 71
Paraguay	Christian Democratic Party	PDC	Opposition	0 / 80 (0%)	0 / 45 (0%)
Peru	Christian People's Party	PPC	extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 130 (0%)
Philippines	Fight of Democratic Filipinos	LDP	Junior party in coalition	1 / 316 (0.3%)	1 / 24 (4%)
	Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats	Lakas	senior party in coalition	100 / 316 (32%)	1 / 24 (4%)
Portugal	Social Democratic Party	PSD	Opposition	77 / 230 (33%)
Romania	National Liberal Party	PNL	senior party in coalition	79 / 330 (24%)	36 / 136 (26%)
	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	RMDSZ	Junior party in coalition	20 / 330 (6%)	9 / 136 (7%)
San Marino	Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party	PDCS	Opposition	21 / 60 (35%)
São Tomé and Príncipe	Independent Democratic Action	ADI	Government	30 / 55 (55%)
Senegal	Centrist Union of Senegal	UCS	Junior party in government
	Bloc des centristes Gaïndé	BCG	Opposition
Serbia	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians	VMSZ	In coalition	6 / 250
Slovakia	Hungarian Alliance	MA	Extraparliamentary	0 / 150
Slovenia	New Slovenia	NSi	Opposition	8 / 90 (9%)
	Slovenian Democratic Party	SDS	Opposition	27 / 90 (30%)
Spain	People's Party	PP	Opposition	137 / 350 (39%)	140 / 266 (53%)
Sweden	Christian Democrats	KD	Government	19 / 349 (5%)
Ukraine	Batkivshchyna		Opposition	24 / 450
Ukraine	Party of Hungarians of Ukraine	KMKSZ	Extraparliamentary	0 / 450
Venezuela	Christian Social Party 'Copei'	COPEI	Opposition	1 / 277 (0.4%)
	Justice First	PJ	Extra-parliamentary	0 / 277 (0%)

Former members[edit]

•  Andorra – Andorran Democratic Centre
•  Andorra – New Centre (Catalan: Nou Centre, NC) (until 2011)
•  Argentina – Justicialist Party (Spanish: Partido Justicialista, PJ) (until 2020s)
•  Belgium – Humanist Democratic Centre
•  Ecuador – Christian Democratic Union
•  Estonia – Pro Patria Union
•  France – Union for a Popular Movement
•  Hungary – Hungarian Democratic Forum
•  Italy – Union of Democrats for Europe
•  Slovakia – Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party
•  Spain – Democratic Union of Catalonia
•  Switzerland – Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland

Observer parties[edit]

The IDC-CDI has 21 observers, including:

•  Armenia – Heritage (Armenian: Ժառանգություն)^[9]
•  Azerbaijan – New Azerbaijan Party (Azerbaijani: Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası, YAP)^[10]
•  Belarus – Belarusian Christian Democracy (Belarusian: Беларуская хрысьціянская дэмакратыя, BKhD)
•  Belarus - BPF Party (Belarusian: Партыя БНФ)
•  Belgium - Les Engages
•  Bolivia - Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano, PDC)
•  Bonaire - Bonaire Patriotic Union (Papiamentu: Union Patriótiko Boneriano, UPB; Dutch: Patriottische Unie van Bonaire)
•  Brazil – Brazilian Social Democracy Party (Brazilian Portuguese: Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB)
•  Costa Rica - Social Christian Unity Party (Spanish: Partido Unidad Social Cristiana, PUSC)
•  Equatorial Guinea – Popular Union of Equatorial Guinea (Spanish: Partido Unión Popular, PUP)
•  Honduras - Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras, PDC)
•  Honduras – National Party of Honduras (Spanish: Partido Nacional de Honduras, PNH)
•  Kosovo - Democratic League of Kosovo (Albanian: Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK)
•  Lithuania - Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Lithuanian: Tėvynės sąjunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS-LKD)
•  Mauritania - Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (French: Parti républicain démocratique et social, PRDS)
•  Mozambique – Mozambican National Resistance (Portuguese: Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, RENAMO)
•  Slovakia – Christian Democratic Movement (Slovak: Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie, KDH)
•  Trinidad and Tobago - United National Congress
•  Uganda - Democratic Party (Uganda) (Swahili: Chama cha Kidemokrasia,DP)
•  Uruguay - Christian Democratic Party of Uruguay (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano del Uruguay)
•  Uruguay - Partido Nacional

See also[edit]

• Christian Democrat Organization of America
• European People's Party
• Wilfried Martens Centre
• National Democratic Institute
• Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
• International Democrat Union
• Liberal International
• Andres Pastrana
• Antonio Lopez Isturiz

Notes[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Papini, Roberto (1997). The Christian Democrat International. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Grabow, Karsten & Hartleb, Florian (Eds.) (2013). Exposing the Demagogues. Center for European Studies & Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

External links[edit]

• Centrist Democrat International