Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal
The Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal is the most senior politician within the Christian Democratic Appeal (Dutch: Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA) in the Netherlands.The current leader has been Henri Bontenbal since 14 August 2023.
History
The leaders outwardly act as the figurehead and the main representative of the party. Within the party, they must ensure political consensus. At election time the Leader is always the lijsttrekker (top candidate) of the party list. Outside election time the officeholder can serve as the Leader of the Opposition. In the Christian Democratic Appeal the Leader is often the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives. Some Christian Democratic Appeal leaders became a Minister in a Cabinet.
Deputy Leader
The Christian Democratic Appeal doesn't have an official designated Deputy Leader in the party's hierarchy but some are given the title as an unofficial description by the media. Because of the often unofficial nature of the position, reliable sources can sometimes differ over who the deputy actually is or was.
Deputy Leader | Term of office | Position(s) as Deputy Leader | Former Affiliation |
Leader(s) | |||
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Willem Aantjes (1923–2015) |
10 December 1976 – 7 November 1978 (1 year, 332 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1959–1978) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1977–1978) |
ARP | Dries van Agt | |||
Ruud Lubbers (1939–2018) |
7 November 1978 – 25 October 1982 (3 years, 352 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1977–1982) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1978–1981) (1981–1982) |
KVP | ||||
Not in use (25 October 1982 – 4 November 1982) |
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Dr. Bert de Vries (born 1938) |
4 November 1982 – 7 November 1989 (7 years, 3 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1978–1989) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1982–1986) (1986–1989) |
ARP | Ruud Lubbers | |||
Elco Brinkman (born 1948) |
7 November 1989 – 29 January 1994 (4 years, 83 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1989–1995) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1989–1994) |
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Not in use (29 January 1994 – 14 December 1995) |
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Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (born 1948) |
14 December 1995 – 27 March 1997 (1 year, 134 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1986–2002) |
Enneüs Heerma | ||||
Not in use (27 March 1997 – 24 January 2001) |
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Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende (born 1956) |
24 January 2001 – 1 October 2001 (250 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1998–2002) |
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer | ||||
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (born 1948) |
1 October 2001 – 3 December 2003 (2 years, 63 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1986–2002) Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002–2003) |
Jan Peter Balkenende | ||||
Maxime Verhagen (born 1956) |
11 July 2002 – 9 June 2010 (7 years, 333 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1994–2007) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2002–2003) (2003–2006) (2007) Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007–2010) Minister for Development Cooperation (2010) |
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Not in use (9 June 2010 – 14 October 2010) |
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Sybrand van Haersma Buma (born 1965) |
14 October 2010 – 30 June 2012 (6 years, 326 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (2002–2019) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2010–2019) |
Maxime Verhagen | ||||
Mona Keijzer (born 1968) |
30 June 2012 – 26 October 2017 (5 years, 118 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (2012–2017) State Secretary for Economic Affairs and the Environment (since 2017) |
Sybrand van Haersma Buma |
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Hugo de Jonge (born 1977) |
26 October 2017 – 15 July 2020 (6 years, 89 days) |
Deputy Prime Minister (since 2017) Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport (since 2017) |
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Hugo de Jonge | |||||||
Pieter Heerma (born 1977) |
21 May 2019 (1 year, 55 days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (since 2012) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (since 2019) |