The Popular Unity Party is a

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 ideological or p ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

led by Youssif Hamdan. It was founded in 1995 and was initially known as the Communist Party of Iraq (CPI). The CPI split away from the

Iraqi Communist Party The Iraqi Communist Party ( ar, الحزب الشيوعي العراقي '; ku, Partiya Komunista Iraqê حزبی شیوعی عێراق) is a communist party and the oldest active party in Iraq. Since its foundation in 1934, it has dominated the ...

during the latter period of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

regime In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

. Many saw the CPI as a puppet party of the regime, whose existence would give the outside world an impression that the country was a multi-party state. The party met with foreign delegations visiting

. It seemed the intentions of the party would've been to join the government as a junior partner within the National Progressive Front, similar to the coalition of the same name set-up in neighbouring

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, but the idea was later discarded. The CPI was never given possibility to register as a legal party, though its leader was in the Iraqi parliament as of 2001.''Jewish Political Studies Review'' Vol. 13. 2001. p. 234. Following the fall of the Saddam's regime in 2003, the party was reconstructed as the Popular Unity Party.

References

1995 establishments in Iraq Communist parties in Iraq Iraqi Communist Party breakaway groups Political parties established in 1995 {{Iraq-party-stub