The Christian Democratic Union ( lv, Kristīgi demokrātiskā savienība, KDS) is a minor

Christian-democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It is currently led by

Māra Viktorija Zilgalve Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, Mother Earth, a feminine counterpart to Dievs. She takes spirits after death. She may be thought as the alternate side of Dievs (like in Yin and Yang). Other Latvian goddesses, somet ...

and Secretary General

Armands Agrums Armands is a Latvian language, Latvian masculine given name. People bearing the name Armands include: *Armands Ābols (born 1973), Latvian pianist *Armands Bērziņš (born 1983), Latvian ice hockey player *Armands Celitāns (born 1984), Latvian v ...

History

The KDS was founded in 1991. The party participated in the 1993 Saeima election and obtained 5.0% of the vote and six seats. In the next parliamentary election in 1995 the party contested in alliance with the

Latvian Farmers' Union The Latvian Farmers' Union ( lv, Latvijas Zemnieku savienība, LZS) is an agrarian political party in Latvia. Initially formed in 1917 during the period of Latvian War of Independence, it was banned in 1934. It was re-established in 1990. It i ...

and won 6.3% of the vote and eight seats. In 1998 it joined forces with the Workers' Party and the

Latvian Green Party The Latvian Green Party ( lv, Latvijas Zaļā partija, LZP) is a green political party in Latvia. It was founded in 1990. It was a member of the European Green Party from 2003 until its expulsion in 2019. It is positioned in the centre and lean ...

, in 2002 with

Latvia's First Party The Latvia's First Party ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 M ...

and in 2006 with the

Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ) , colours = Maroon Green , headquarters = Riga, Lāčplēša iela 60, LV-1011 , seats1_title = Saeima , seats1 = , seats2_title = European Parliament , seats2 = , website lsdsp.lv, membership_year = 2017 , membership = 633 The Latv ...

. In the 2010 legislative election it got just 0.36% of the votes and thus failed to overcome the 5% threshold. The two European elections in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

were unsuccessful (0.4% and 0.3% of the vote respectively). The party formed an alliance with two other parties, the

and Honor to Serve Our Latvia, to run together in the 2018 Saeima election.

Program

The party's platform is based on

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

values. Economically the Christian Democratic Union advocates the elimination of corruption, lower taxes, free enterprise, the strengthening of agriculture and the improvement of infrastructure. The party favours the model of a

social market economy The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...

in the tradition of

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is known for leading the West German postwar economic ...

.delfi.lv
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References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Political parties in Latvia 1991 establishments in Latvia 1991 establishments in the Soviet Union Conservative parties in Latvia Political parties established in 1991 Pro-independence parties in the Soviet Union European Christian Political Movement