Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal

Christian Democratic Appeal

Future Leader Ruud Lubbers and Incumbent Leader Dries van Agt in the House of Representatives on 23 June 1981.

Future Leader Elco Brinkman and Incumbent Leader Ruud Lubbers in the House of Representatives on 3 May 1984.

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 lead 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.

Leader			Term of office	Age as leader	Position(s) as leader	Further position(s)	Former affiliation	Professional background	Religion	Lead candidate
		Dries van Agt (1931–2024)	10 December 1976 – 25 October 1982 (5 years, 319 days)	45–51	Minister of Justice (1971–1977) Deputy Prime Minister (1973–1977) Member of the House of Representatives (1977, 1981, 1982–1983) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1977, 1981) Prime Minister (1977–1982) President of the European Council (1981) Minister of Foreign Affairs (1982)	Member of the House of Representatives (1973) Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant (1983–1987) Ambassador of the European Union to Japan (1987–1990) Ambassador of the European Union to the United States (1990–1995)	KVP	Lawyer civil servant professor	Catholic	1977 1981 1982
		Ruud Lubbers (1939–2018)	25 October 1982 – 29 January 1994 (11 years, 96 days)	43–54	Member of the House of Representatives (1977–1982, 1986, 1989) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1981–1982, 1986, 1989) Prime Minister (1982–1994) President of the European Council (1986, 1991) Minister for Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs (1989, 1994)	Minister of Economic Affairs (KVP) (1973–1977) Member of the House of Representatives (1977) Minister of State (1995–2018) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2001–2005)	KVP	Businessman Economist	Catholic	1986 1989
		Elco Brinkman (born 1948)	29 January 1994 – 16 August 1994 (199 days)	45–46	Member of the House of Representatives (1989–1995) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1989–1994)	Minister of Welfare, Health and Culture (1982–1986) Member of the House of Representatives (1986) Member of the Social and Economic Council (1995–2011) Member of the Senate (2011–2019) Parliamentary leader in the Senate (2011–2019)		Civil servant	Protestant	1994
		Enneüs Heerma (1944–1999)	16 August 1994 – 27 March 1997 (2 years, 254 days)	49–52	Member of the House of Representatives (1994–1997) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1994–1997)	State Secretary for Economic Affairs (1986) State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (1986–1994) Member of the House of Representatives (1989)	ARP	Management consultant	Protestant
		Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (born 1948)	27 March 1997 – 1 October 2001 (4 years, 157 days)	48–53	Member of the House of Representatives (1986–2002) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (1997–2001)	Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002–2003) Secretary General of NATO (2003–2009) Minister of State (since 2018)	D66	Civil servant Diplomat	Catholic	1998
		Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende (born 1956)	1 October 2001 – 9 June 2010 (8 years, 251 days)	46–54	Member of the House of Representatives (1998–2002, 2003, 2006–2007) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2001–2002, 2003, 2006–2007) Prime Minister (2002–2010) President of the European Council (2004)			Researcher Professor	Protestant	2002 2003 2006 2010
		Maxime Verhagen (born 1956)	9 June 2010 – 30 June 2012 (2 years, 21 days)	53–55	Member of the House of Representatives (2010) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2010) Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Deputy Prime Minister (2010–2012)	Member of the European Parliament (1989–1994) 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) Member of the Social and Economic Council (since 2015)		Political consultant	Catholic
		Sybrand van Haersma Buma (born 1965)	30 June 2012 – 22 May 2019 (6 years, 326 days)	46–53	Member of the House of Representatives (2002–2019) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2010–2019)	Mayor of Leeuwarden (since 2019)		Jurist Civil servant	Protestant	2012 2017
Vacant After Sybrand van Haersma Buma stepped down, Pieter Heerma took over as parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives but the party leadership remained vacant until the 2020 leadership election. (22 May 2019 – 15 July 2020)
		Hugo de Jonge (born 1977)	15 July 2020 – 10 December 2020 (148 days)	42–43	Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Deputy Prime Minister (2017–2022)	Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning (since 2022)		Teacher School administrator Political consultant	Protestant
Vacant (10 December 2020 – 11 December 2020)
		Wopke Hoekstra (born 1975)	11 December 2020 – 14 August 2023 (2 years, 246 days)	45–47	Minister of Finance (2017–2022) Member of the House of Representatives (2021–2022) Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives (2021–2022) Minister of Foreign Affairs Deputy Prime Minister (since 2022)	Member of the Senate (2011–2017)		Management consultant	Remonstrant	2021
		Henri Bontenbal (born 1982)	14 August 2023 – Incumbent (272 days)	40–41	Member of the House of Representatives (since 2022)	Member of the House of Representatives (2021, 2021)		Energy consultant	Protestant	2023

External links

Official

• (in Dutch) Official website