The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands.
Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical Union, it first participated in a general election in 1977 and unified into a single party in 1980. The party dominated Dutch politics from 1977 to 1994, becoming the largest party all but twice, with leaders Dries van Agt and Ruud Lubbers serving as prime minister.
The party faced a major defeat in the 1994 general election, after which the first two cabinets without its participation were formed. The CDA regained its status as the largest party between 2002 and 2010, during which leader Jan Peter Balkenende headed four cabinets. Between 2010 and 2023, the party saw further electoral decline under varied leadership, participating in three of four cabinets as a junior coalition partner. Following the 2025 general election, the party holds 18 seats, now led by Henri Bontenbal.
History
Founding Predecessor parties
Since 1880, Catholics and the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) collaborated in the so-called Coalition. They shared a common goal of securing public funding for religious schools, which was achieved through the Pacification of 1917. In 1888, they established the first Christian democratic cabinet, the Mackay cabinet. This cooperation, however, was not without challenges, and in 1894, more anti-Catholic and aristocratic conservatives split from the ARP to form what would become the Christian Historical Union (CHU) in 1908. Within both parties, there remained a desire to reunite. Meanwhile, in 1904, the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses was formed, eventually evolving into the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) in 1926 and later the Catholic People's Party (KVP) in 1945.
During the Interwar period, all three parties remained continuously in government. After World War II, however, the KVP distanced itself from the CHU and especially the ARP, refraining from governing with them until 1952 and 1958, respectively, instead forming Roman/Red cabinets with the Labour Party (PvdA). Meanwhile, the parties began collaborating at the European level, with the CHU and ARP joining the KVP in the Nouvelles Equipes Internationale in 1953. Due to secularisation and depillarisation, the three parties lost their combined majority in the 1959 general election for the first time since 1918.
Merger talks Influenced by the Second Vatican Council, the KVP published the report () and adopted its conclusions, which called for Christian democratic cooperation, in December 1966. The Night of Schmelzer in October 1966 exposed divisions both between and within the three parties, leading to disappointing election results for each. Consequently, the three parties accepted an ARP initiative to form the Group of Eighteen in April 1967, comprising six prominent politicians from each party, tasked with establishing a common foundation for Christian politics and, if successful, determining the best path forward.
Meanwhile, Christian-radical members within the three parties grew dissatisfied with their support in the 1967 general election, as they favored cooperation with progressive parties over alignment with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the De Jong cabinet. To prevent this group from disrupting party cooperation, the leaders of the three parties announced on 14 February 1968 that in the next election, they would either unite into a single Christian party or only join the cabinet together. This announcement led a group of KVP radicals to leave the party the same month, founding the Political Party of Radicals (PPR). Two years later, a group of ARP radicals also left to establish the Evangelical Progressive Party (EVP).
In 1969, the Group of Eighteen proposed drafting a joint "urgency programme," which the parties completed shortly before the 1971 general election, where they again lost seats. Following up on the Group of Eighteen, the Contact Council was established in 1972 to further develop their cooperation. Led by KVP Senator Piet Steenkamp, the council issued a memorandum in June 1972, advocating a single candidate list for the next election and the formation of a Christian democratic movement, with membership open to members of the three parties as well as direct members.
A month later, however, the first Biesheuvel cabinet collapsed, leaving insufficient time to prepare a single candidate list, resulting in another loss in the 1972 general election. As part of its polarisation strategy, the PvdA persuaded several KVP and ARP politicians to join its progressive Den Uyl cabinet during the 1972–1973 cabinet formation. This arrangement required their parliamentary groups to provide confidence and supply, while the CHU moved into opposition. This shift complicated the merger process, as the CHU stipulated that a joint list would depend on the "actual parliamentary political situation" (the so-called "political mortgage").
Federation
Nevertheless, based on the memorandum, the Christian Democratic Appeal was officially formed as a pre-federation in 1973, with Steenkamp as its chairperson. It would employ a "growth model", in which they would work out political and organizational details, while keeping the original parties until the last moment. Meanwhile discussions continued on the role of the Bible in the party and the political course. When the pre-federation was turned into a federation in 1975, some conservative members of the CHU and ARP left to form the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF).
Van Agt cabinets, 1977–1982
In 1976, the three parties announced that they would field a single candidate list at the 1977 general election, after their parliamentary groups had intensified cooperation. KVP minister of Justice Dries van Agt was the lead candidate. The election manifesto was titled "Not by bread alone" () and was progressive. The list was able to get one seat more than the three parties together five years earlier. Based on the results, a cabinet of PvdA, CDA and Democrats 66 (D66) was most likely and was discussed at the start of the 1977 cabinet formation. After seven months, the negotiations finally collapsed, after it had been suspended multiple times. Soon after, Van Agt was able to form the first Van Agt cabinet with the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Some progressive MPs nicknamed the loyalists, which included parliamentary leader Willem Aantjes, did not commit to support the cabinet, but only tolerated it. Their opposition forced the cabinet to compromise on the placement of nuclear weapons in the Netherlands. This issue would continue to divide the party until it was resolved in the 1980s and would contribute to the removal of loyalists Jan Nico Scholten and Stef Dijkman from the parliamentary group in 1983. Nevertheless, the first Van Agt cabinet was able to complete its term.
The federation was founding member of the European People's Party on 8 July 1978. For the 1979 European Parliament election, they had first selected Wim Vergeer (KVP), but after Ruud Lubbers (KVP) had replaced Aantjes as parliamentary leader, Bouke Beumer (ARP) was selected. CDA won ten out of 25 seats and was the largest Dutch delegation to distribute the leadership between the parties.
On 11 October 1980, the three original parties ceased to exist and the CDA was founded as a unitary party. The differences between the groups would continue to exist for a long time within the party. It led to another group of members leaving the party and joining with the EPV to found the Evangelical People's Party (EVP).
For the 1981 general election, Van Agt was reelected as lead candidate. Its election manifesto was titled "For a meaningful existence" () and compared to the previous manifesto shifted responsibility from the government to society. CDA became the largest party, despite losing a seat. Because CDA and VVD had lost their majority, the second Van Agt cabinet with PvdA and D66 was formed in the 1981 cabinet formation. Bad relations between PvdA and CDA led to crises from the start, and the cabinet fell within a year. Van Agt led the rump cabinet Van Agt III with D66 to prepare the next election.
Lubbers cabinets, 1982–1994
Van Agt was again lead candidate for the general election and its manifesto was the same as the previous year with an attachment. CDA lost three seats and ended second after PvdA. After the elections, Van Agt announced that he would leave politics and was succeeded as party leader by Lubbers. During the September–November 1982 cabinet formation, Lubbers would form the first Lubbers cabinet with the VVD. To combat the economic crisis, the cabinet implemented budget cuts, limited the welfare state and privatised state-owned companies. A major achievement was the Wassenaar Agreement in 1982, in which trade unions agreed to wage moderation in exchange for reduction of working hours by employers' organisations. This would be the start of the polder model, a concept in line with CDA's principle of distributed responsibility.
The 1986 general election took place when the economy was improving, but the manifesto nevertheless focused on reducing the welfare state and shifting the responsibility to society. Given Lubber's popularity for his "no-nonsense approach", the slogan was "Let Lubbers finish his job" (). CDA won 54 seats, the highest a single party had ever won, mostly at the expense of the VVD. After the 1986 cabinet formation, the second Lubbers cabinet continuing with VVD as coalition partner. VVD felt like being in the supporting role, and finally brought down the cabinet in 1989 over the travel expenses allowance.
The manifesto for the 1989 general election built upon the previous with the addition of environmental management among the priorities. The CDA kept its 54 seats and after the 1989 cabinet formation the third Lubbers cabinet was formed with the PvdA. A notable reform in line with the CDA principle of distributed responsibility, was the privatization of the housing associations by CDA State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Enneüs Heerma, with which he started in 1989 and was finished in 1994.
Opposition to Purple, 1994–2002
In the run-up to the 1994 general election, Lubbers announced he would retire from Dutch politics and had named Elco Brinkman his successor. During the campaign, Lubbers appeared to distance himself from Brinkman. Furthermore, the freezing of pensions they had included in their manifesto proved unpopular with its elderly voters. CDA lost 20 of its 54 seats. The 1994 cabinet formation led to the first purple coalition, the first time since 1918 that CDA or its predecessors were not part of a cabinet. Enneüs Heerma succeeded Brinkman as parliamentary leader and attempted to be the voice of the opposition and bring the topic of family on the political agenda, but failed in both.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was selected as lead candidate for the 1998 general election. The election manifesto "You don't live together alone" () differed from previous ones, focusing on communitarianism in contrast to the individualism of the purple coalition. However, De Hoop Scheffers was relatively unknown compared to his opponents, and the CDA, as a centrist party, struggled to simultaneously target both the left-wing PvdA and the right-wing VVD. It led to another loss of five seats and a continuation of the cabinet without CDA.
Balkenende cabinets, 2002–2010