International Democracy Union

The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023)^[3] is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties.^[4][5] Headquartered in Munich, Germany,^[6] the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries.^[7] It is chaired by Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada. It has three affiliated international organizations (International Young Democrat Union, International Women's Democracy Union and SME Global^[8] ) and six affiliated regional organizations (Union of Latin American Parties, Asia Pacific Democrat Union, Caribbean Democrat Union, Democrat Union of Africa, European People's Party and European Conservatives and Reformists Party).

International Democracy Union

Abbreviation	IDU
Formation	24 June 1983; 42 years ago (1983-06-24)
Purpose	World federation of right-of-centre/moderate-to-conservative political parties[1][2]
Headquarters	Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	84 political parties and 8 organisations
Official language	English
Chairman	Stephen Harper (Conservative Party of Canada)
Deputy Chairman	Brian Loughnane (Liberal Party of Australia)
Website	idu.org
Formerly called	International Democrat Union (until 2023)

The IDU allows "centre-right" conservative political parties around the world to establish contacts and discuss different views on public policy and related matters. Their stated goal is the promotion of "democracy and [of] centre-right policies around the globe".^[9] The IDU has some overlap of member parties with the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), but the CDI is more centrist, Christian democrat and communitarian than the IDU.^[10]

The group was founded in 1983 as the umbrella organisation for the European Democrat Union (EDU), Caribbean Democrat Union (CDU), and the Asia Pacific Democrat Union (APDU). Created at the instigation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush, the organisation was founded at a joint meeting of the EDU and APDU in London, United Kingdom.^[11]

Founding

The IDU was founded in London on 24 June 1983.^[12] According to Richard V. Allen, to be admitted as a member, a party must qualify as a "mainstream conservative" party influenced by classical liberalism.^[13]

The founding declaration was signed by 19 persons:^[14]

Person	Party	Country
Alois Mock	Austrian People's Party	Austria
Margaret Thatcher	Conservative Party	United Kingdom
Helmut Kohl	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	West Germany
Franz Josef Strauss	Christian Social Union in Bavaria
Jacques Chirac	Rally for the Republic	France
Andrew Peacock	Liberal Party of Australia	Australia
Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza	New Democracy	Greece
Manuel Fraga	People's Alliance	Spain
Oscar Alzaga	People's Democratic Party
Susanne Wood	New Zealand National Party	New Zealand
Glafcos Clerides	Democratic Rally	Cyprus
Ilkka Suominen	National Coalition Party	Finland
Lucas Pires	CDS – People's Party	Portugal
Tatsuo Tanaka	Liberal Democratic Party	Japan
Ulf Adelsohn	Moderate Party	Sweden
Erik Nielsen	Progressive Conservative Party of Canada	Canada
Poul Schlüter	Conservative People's Party	Denmark
Jo Benkow	Conservative Party	Norway
Frank Fahrenkopf	Republican Party	United States

Member parties

Full members

Country[15]	Party	Abbreviation	Government	Lower Chamber	Upper Chamber
Albania	Democratic Party of Albania	PD	Opposition	59 / 140 (42%)
	Republican Party of Albania	PR	Opposition	2 / 140 (1%)
Argentina	Republican Proposal	PRO	Government	37 / 257 (14%)	6 / 72 (8%)
Australia	Liberal Party of Australia	LIB	Opposition	28 / 150 (19%)	25 / 76 (33%)
Austria	Austrian People's Party	ÖVP	Government	51 / 183 (28%)	22 / 60 (37%)
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan National Independence Party	AMIP	Support	1 / 125 (0.8%)
Belgium	New Flemish Alliance	N-VA	Government	24 / 150 (16%)	9 / 60 (15%)
Bolivia	Social Democratic Movement	MDS	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 130 (0%)	0 / 36 (0%)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Party of Democratic Progress	PDP	Opposition	2 / 42 (5%)	1 / 15 (7%)
	Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina	HDZ	Government	4 / 42 (10%)	3 / 15 (20%)
Brazil	Brazil Union	UNIÃO	Independent	59 / 513 (12%)	7 / 81 (9%)
Bulgaria	GERB	GERB	Government	66 / 240 (28%)
Canada	Conservative Party of Canada	CPC / PCC	Opposition	143 / 343 (42%)	14 / 105 (13%)
Chile	Independent Democratic Union	UDI	Opposition	23 / 155 (15%)	9 / 50 (18%)
	National Renewal	RN	Opposition	22 / 155 (14%)	11 / 50 (22%)
Costa Rica	Social Christian Unity Party	PUSC	Opposition	9 / 57 (16%)
Colombia	Colombian Conservative Party	PCC	Opposition	25 / 188 (13%)	15 / 108 (14%)
Cyprus	Democratic Rally	DISY	Opposition	17 / 56 (30%)
Czech Republic	Civic Democratic Party	ODS	Government	34 / 200 (17%)	21 / 81 (26%)
	TOP 09	TOP 09	Government	14 / 200 (7%)	4 / 81 (5%)
Croatia	Croatian Democratic Union	DISY	Government	55 / 151 (36%)
Cuba	Assembly of the Cuban Resistance	DISY	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 470 (0%)
Denmark	Conservative People's Party	DKF	Opposition	10 / 179 (6%)
Dominican Republic	National Progressive Force	FNP	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 190 (0%)	0 / 32 (0%)
Ecuador	Creating Opportunities	CREO	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 137 (0%)
El Salvador	Nationalist Republican Alliance	ARENA	Opposition	2 / 60 (3%)
Estonia	Isamaa		Opposition	10 / 101 (10%)
Finland	National Coalition Party	Kok	Government	48 / 200 (24%)
Georgia	United National Movement	UNM	Opposition	15 / 150 (10%)
Germany	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	CDU	Government	164 / 630 (26%)	22 / 69 (32%)
	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	CSU	Government	44 / 630 (7%)	4 / 69 (6%)
Ghana	New Patriotic Party	NPP	Opposition	88 / 275 (32%)
Greece	New Democracy	ND	Government	158 / 300 (53%)
Grenada	New National Party	NNP	Opposition	5 / 15 (33%)	3 / 13 (23%)
Guatemala	Unionist Party	PU	Opposition	2 / 160 (1%)
Iceland	Independence Party		Opposition	14 / 63 (22%)
Israel	Likud	Likud	Government	32 / 120 (27%)
Italy	Forza Italia	FI	Government	46 / 400 (12%)	20 / 200 (10%)
	Brothers of Italy	FdI	Government	117 / 400 (29%)	66 / 200 (33%)
Ivory Coast	Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally	PDCI-RDA	Opposition	73 / 255 (29%)	6 / 99 (6%)
Kenya	Democratic Party of Kenya	DP	Government	1 / 349 (0.3%)	0 / 67 (0%)
	Kenya African National Union	KANU	Opposition	5 / 349 (1%)	0 / 67 (0%)
Latvia	National Alliance	NA	Opposition	13 / 100 (13%)
Lebanon	Kataeb Party		Opposition	4 / 128 (3%)
Maldives	Maldivian Democratic Party	MDP	Opposition	12 / 93 (13%)
Malta	Nationalist Party	PN	Opposition	35 / 79 (44%)
Moldova	Party of Action and Solidarity	PAS	Government	62 / 101 (61%)
Mongolia	Democratic Party	DP	Opposition	42 / 126 (33%)
Morocco	Istiqlal Party		Government	81 / 395 (21%)	17 / 120 (14%)
Nepal	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	RPP	Opposition	14 / 275 (5%)	0 / 59 (0%)
New Zealand	National Party	NAT	Government	49 / 123 (40%)
Nigeria	Peoples Democratic Party	PDP	Opposition	118 / 360 (33%)	36 / 109 (33%)
North Macedonia	VMRO-DPMNE		Government	58 / 120 (48%)
Norway	Conservative Party	H	Opposition	36 / 169 (21%)
Panama	Democratic Change	CD	Support	8 / 71 (11%)
Paraguay	Partido Colorado	ANR-PC	Government	48 / 80 (60%)	23 / 45 (51%)
Peru	Christian People's Party	PPC	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 130 (0%)
Portugal	CDS – People's Party	CDS–PP	Government	2 / 230 (0.9%)
Romania	National Liberal Party	PNL	Government	49 / 330 (15%)	22 / 136 (16%)
Saint Lucia	United Workers Party	UWP	Opposition	2 / 17 (12%)	3 / 11 (27%)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	New Democratic Party	NDP	Opposition	6 / 15 (40%)
Serbia	Serbian Progressive Party	SNS	Government	104 / 250 (42%)
Slovenia	Slovenian Democratic Party	SDS	Opposition	27 / 90 (30%)
South Korea	People Power Party	PPP	Opposition	107 / 300 (36%)
Spain	People's Party	PP	Opposition	137 / 350 (39%)	143 / 264 (54%)
Sri Lanka	United National Party	UNP	Opposition	2 / 225 (0.9%)
South Africa	Inkatha Freedom Party	IFP	Government	17 / 400 (4%)
Sweden	Moderate Party	M	Government	68 / 349 (19%)
Taiwan	Kuomintang	KMT	Opposition	52 / 113 (46%)
Tanzania	Party for Democracy and Progress	CHADEMA	Opposition	20 / 393 (5%)
Turks and Caicos Islands	People's Democratic Movement	PDM	Opposition	1 / 15 (7%)
Uganda	Forum for Democratic Change	FDC	Opposition	32 / 529 (6%)
Ukraine	European Solidarity	YeS	Opposition	27 / 450 (6%)
United Kingdom	Conservative and Unionist Party	CON	Opposition	121 / 650 (19%)	274 / 783 (35%)
United States	Republican Party	R / GOP	Government	219 / 435 (50%)	53 / 100 (53%)
Venezuela	Encuentro Ciudadano	PV	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 277 (0%)

Former members

•  Argentina – Justicialist Party
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Party of Democratic Action
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Croatian Democratic Union 1990
•  Brazil – Democrats
•  Bulgaria – Union of Democratic Forces
•  Canada – Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
•  Dominican Republic – Social Christian Reformist Party
•  France – Rally for the Republic
•  France – Union for a Popular Movement
•  Guatemala – National Advancement Party
•  Honduras – National Party of Honduras
•  Hungary – Fidesz
•  India – Bharatiya Janata Party
•  Japan – Liberal Democratic Party
•  Lebanon – Lebanese Forces
•  Lithuania – Homeland Union
•  Moldova – Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova
•  Montenegro – Movement for Changes
•  Nicaragua – Conservative Party
•  Portugal – Social Democratic Party
•  Russia – Union of Right Forces
•  Serbia – Democratic Party of Serbia
•  Serbia – United Regions of Serbia
•  South Korea – Liberty Korea Party
•  Spain – People's Alliance
•  Spain – People's Democratic Party

Chairmen

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Alois Mock (1934–2017)	24 June 1983	1987		Austrian People's Party
2		Kåre Willoch (1928–2021)	1987	1989		Conservative Party of Norway
3		William Hague (born 1961)	19 June 1997	10 June 2002	4 years, 356 days	Conservative Party of UK
4		John Howard (born 1939)	10 June 2002	21 November 2014	12 years, 164 days	Liberal Party of Australia
5		Sir John Key (born 1961)	21 November 2014	21 February 2018	3 years, 92 days	New Zealand National Party
6		Stephen Harper (born 1959)	21 February 2018	Incumbent	7 years, 163 days	Conservative Party of Canada

Since 1997, all Chairmen have been part of the Anglosphere (United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada).

See also

• European Conservatives and Reformists Party
• Asia Pacific Democracy Union
• Caribbean Democrat Union
• Centrist Democrat International
• Democracy Union of Africa
• European People's Party
• European Conservatives and Reformists Group
• International Women's Democracy Union
• International Young Democrat Union
• Union of Latin American Parties
• Political internationals: such as the Liberal International and the Socialist International
• Conservative Establishment