Abbreviation IDU Region served Worldwide | Formation 1983 Membership 71 | |
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Purpose World federation of centre-right political parties Headquarters Munich, Bavaria, Germany | ||
The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the IDU comprises 71 full and associate members from 63 different countries. It is chaired by John Key, former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest. From this, they act cooperatively, establish contacts, and present a unified voice toward the promotion of centre-right policies around the globe. The IDU has some overlap of member parties with the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), but the CDI is more centrist and communitarian than the IDU.
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 US Vice President George H. W. Bush, the organisation was founded at a joint meeting of the EDU and APDU in London, the United Kingdom.
The IDU has several regional affiliates: the Democrat Union of Africa, the Union of Latin American Parties, the Asia Pacific Democrat Union, the Caribbean Democrat Union, and the European People's Party, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists and the (dormant since 2002) European Democrat Union in Europe. It also has an affiliated youth wing the International Young Democrat Union led by Australian Simon Breheny and an affiliated women's wing in the International Women's Democrat Union.