Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal

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 post is currently held by Sybrand van Haersma Buma, who succeeded Maxime Verhagen after the leadership election of 2012.^[1]

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 Leader can serves as the Opposition leader. 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.

	Period	Age as Leader	Position(s) as Leader	Further position(s)
Dries van Agt (born 1931)	22 October 1976 – 13 October 1982 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	45–51	Minister of Justice Deputy Prime Minister Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Minister of General Affairs Prime Minister Minister of Foreign Affairs	Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant Ambassador of the European Union to the United States
Ruud Lubbers (born 1939)	25 October 1982 – 29 January 1994 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	43–54	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Minister of General Affairs Prime Minister Minister for Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs	Minister of Economic Affairs United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Minister of State
Elco Brinkman (born 1948)	29 January 1994 – 16 August 1994 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	45–46	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives	Minister of Welfare, Health and Culture Member of the Senate Parliamentary leader in the Senate
Enneüs Heerma (1944–1999)	18 August 1994 – 27 March 1997 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	49–52	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives	Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Undersecretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (born 1948)	27 March 1997 – 1 October 2001 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	48–53	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives	Minister of Foreign Affairs Secretary General of NATO
Jan Peter Balkenende (born 1956)	1 October 2001 – 9 June 2010 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	46–54	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Minister of General Affairs Prime Minister
Maxime Verhagen (born 1956)	9 June 2010 – 30 June 2012 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	53–55	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Deputy Prime Minister	Member of the European Parliament Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister for Development Cooperation
Sybrand van Haersma Buma (born 1965)	30 June 2012 – Incumbent (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) ^[1]	46–	Member of the House of Representatives Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives