ChristianUnion

The ChristianUnion ( Christian Union, sometimes abbreviated as CU ) is a Christian democratic political party with orthodox Calvinist orientation in the Netherlands.

Structure

The Party is the eighth-largest party in the Netherlands with occasionally more than 27,000 members. Most of its voters are more or less traditional Calvinist churches. The ChristianUnion has a youth organization Perspectief, and operates a scientific institute, which Mr. G. Groen van Prinsterer Stichting.

History

The party was founded in 2001 as a merger of two Verbond parties, the Reformatorisch Politieke Federatie and the Gereformeerd Politiek who had competed individually for the 1998 election. The parties had entered into the sum of five ( 2 GPV, RPF 3) of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament before the election of 2002. Was expected gains, but the opposite, the ChristianUnion lost one seat and dropped to four seats.

The chairman was Kars Veling. After the 2002 election has been argued that he was well able, the party was still divided in the old GPV- RPF - line hold together; he had not have been a more interesting candidate for the general population. So André Rouvoet was elected as the new chairman. In the 2003 election the ChristianUnion lost one seat, keeping only 3, in the 2006 election it could be improved to 4% of the vote and six seats. Since February 2007, she was next to the CDA and PvdA the third partner in the ruling coalition. She stood in the Cabinet Balkenende IV two ministers: The party chairman Rouvoet assumed responsibility for youth and family and served as one of the Deputy Prime Minister, Eimert van Middelkoop led the Department of Defense. After the coalition and the resignation of the PvdA Minister in February 2010 CDA and CU made ​​an executive cabinet without parliamentary majority. In early elections in June 2010, the ChristianUnion lost with a voting share of 3.2 % a mandate.

The ChristianUnion is a member of the Association of European Christian Political Movement ( ECPM ). The CU won at the 2004 European election a seat In the European elections in 2009 was achieved in alliance with the Protestant state Kundig Gereformeerde Partij two seats, one of which on each of the two parties account for a seat. By 2009, the CU of the Eurosceptic faction Ind / The belonged to the European Parliament, after she was involved in the establishment of the new European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). However, the CU belongs to, unlike the other ECR - member parties and the party Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists ( AECR ), but the European Christian Political Movement ( ECPB ). This was recognized early 2010 as a political party at European level.

Election results

  • 2003: 2 seats
  • 2007: 4 seats
  • 2011: 2 seats

Election Results for the Second Appeal:

  • Election 2002: 2.5 % - 4 seats
  • Election 2003: 2.1% - 3 seats
  • Election 2006: 4.0% - 6 seats
  • Election 2010: 3.2% - 5 seats
  • Election 2012: 3.1% - 5 seats

Election results to the European Parliament (along with the SGP ):

  • Election 1999: 2 seats (up to 2001/2002 GPV and RPF)
  • Election 2004: 1 seat
  • Election 2009: 1 seat

Group leaders

First Chamber:

  • Roel Kuiper 2011 -

Second Chamber:

  • Kars Veling 2002
  • André Rouvoet 2002-2007
  • Arie Slob 2007-2010
  • André Rouvoet 2010-2011
  • Arie Slob, 2011 -
Peter van Dalen Calvinism List of youth organizations Reformed Political League Fourth Balkenende cabinet European Parliament election, 2004 Reformed Political Party European Parliament election, 2009 (Netherlands)
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