Christian Democratic Union (Romance Republic)

Christian Democratic Union Unión Democrática Cristiana
Leader	Elena Cazador de León
Founded	30 December 2017 (2017-12-30)
Ideology	Christian democracy
Colors	Orange (traditional)   Purple (customary)
Parliament	1 / 20

The Christian Democratic Union (Romance: Unión Democrática Cristiana) is a Christian democratic political party in the Romance Republic.

History

Formation

The Christian Democratic Union was founded by Carles Grec i Oriol and Elena Cazador de León, both then Members of Parliament for the centrist Democratic Union. Both MPs felt there was significant under-representation of the Roman Catholic heritage of that they viewed as integral to the Catalan identity the Romance Republic was founded to emphasise. The two formally founded the party on 30 December 2017, making it the second-oldest extant political party in the Romance Republic.

Grec, 2017 – 2018

Grec served as interim leader of the party from 30 December 2017 until his election unopposed on 7 January 2018. Grec led the party into its first general election in April 2018 which would go on to be (as of 2020) its most successful election, winning 9.1% of the vote and 2 seats. The party was not expected to join government formation talks but nevertheless found itself singled out by the leftist coalition for the position of President (Speaker) of Parliament. Grec declined the position due to believing that the President of Parliament should be neutral and he viewed being a party leader, such as he was, as being "incompatible" with that neutrality. Instead he suggested his deputy Elena Cazador León. She duly accepted the offer, resigning the UDC deputy leadership, and was duly elected President of Parliament on 10 April 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

On 29 July 2018, Grec unexpectedly announced he would resign as UDC party leader and not contest the next general election. Cazador The following day she would seek the UDC leadership drawing outcry from other party leaders in parliament that the roles of a party leader and President of Parliament should not be joined. As the leftist coalition threatened to unseat her, Cazador announced she would not step down as President of Parliament at the following general election if she won the leadership election. She was elected leader of the party by a landslide and announced her intention to not seek re-election as President of Parliament.

Cazador, 2018-present

After becoming the first woman to serve as President of Parliament, Cazador's election as UDC leader made her the first woman to lead a political party in the Romance Republic. Her first test as leader was the September 2018 election, which saw her party largely hold on to its vote share (dropping by less than 1 point). However, due to the shifts in support for other parties, the UDC ended up losing a seat reducing it to 1 seat in the new parliament.

The Romance National Party (PNR) won a plurality at that election and invited the UDC to government formation talks as it tried to build a right-of-centre coalition. Cazador initially rejected the invitation, preferring her party to remain in opposition. However, after securing the support of the Popular Alliance (AP), the UDC held the balance of power between a right- and left-of-centre coalition. In order to not take either side, Cazador offered instead to continue serving as President of Parliament, meaning she would be unable to vote on legislation or confidence votes (except where there was a tie) but also, this offered the PNR-AP a mathematical majority of 1 by reducing the opposition numbers from 10 to 9. This position drew strong criticism from the leftist parties but was supported by the PNR and AP. Cazador was duly re-elected President of Parliament on 25 September 2018.

Despite initial criticism at merging the roles of a political party leader and the apolitical President of Parliament, Cazador was praised for her neutrality and balance in debate and the legislative program. However, some in her party, including her predecessor as leader, continued to attack the position saying that the UDC with 1 deputy (Member of Parliament) serving in an apolitical role was effectively rendering UDC voters unrepresented in parliament; a criticism she would come under throughout her time as President of Parliament. Cazador dismissed the comments claiming there was no conflict of interest and that she continued to serve UDC voters. Despite this stance, the UDC vote share dropped significantly at the February 2019 general election (although the party – and Cazador – retained its single seat).

The incumbent PNR-AP government was re-elected and it in turn re-elected Cazador for a third term as President of Parliament. She drew particular praise during this third term for her management of crisis talks between the Romance National Party and Popular Alliance as relations between the two broke down and parliamentary business became paralyzed. The UDC itself was caught up in this turmoil, as some began calling for Cazador to be stood down or replaced as leader or as a candidate for election to parliament citing again their belief that a political party leader should not be a neutral office holder. Cazador acquiesced in the face of her own party's opposition and privately told the party executive board in spring 2019 that she would not seek another term as President of Parliament.

Parliament President to Government Minister

Cazador broke with her image as a neutral, balanced politician and set out a UDC platform during the June 2019 election, and avidly campaigned for it. This included constitutional and electoral reforms. The result was that the UDC vote share largely recovered to its September 2018 levels, although the UDC feel short of winning a second seat. The June 2019 election was considered a "re-aligning election" with the People's Party of former President of the Romance Republic, Estevan Clero, emerging as the largest party and replacing The Republicans (formerly the Romance National Party) as the main centre-right party. In a move that shocked many, Clero named Cazador as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Cazador's acceptance saw the Christian Democratic Union enter government for the first time. It later emerged Cazador had held secret meetings with Clero regarding a Cabinet position should his party win.

Public opinion of Cazador as a government minister was largely lacklustre, with the general public viewing her as a better President of Parliament. In particular, Prime Minister Clero privately blamed her for the lack of new diplomatic arrangements saying, "[Cazador] is not used to being proactive." Rumours began that she would likely be moved at the next election if the parties found themselves in the same position. As it turned out, however, UDC support fell to its lowest level at the January 2020 election (with the party just surpassing the 5% threshold to win a seat in parliament) and the People's party of Clero won an absolutely majority of seats and formed the first ever one-party majority government. Cazador was not invited back into Cabinet and the UDC entered opposition for the first time since its formation.

Political ideology

The party describes itself as Christian democratic. It tends support a centre-right stance on cultural, social and moral issues while not being wholly socially conservative. For example, the party supports same-sex marriage. It is, by contrast, considered centre-left with respect to economic and labour issues, civil rights, and the environment.

Electoral performance

Election	Leader	Vote		Seats		Position	Status in Parliament
		%	±	No.	±
Apr. 2018	Carles Grec i Oriol	9.09%	new	2 / 20	new	4th	Opposition
Sep. 2018	Elena Cazador de León	8.33%	▼ 0.76	1 / 20	▼ 1	▼ 5th	Confidence and supply
Feb. 2019		5.88%	▼ 2.43	1 / 20		5th	Confidence and supply
Jun. 2019		8.11%	▲ 2.23	1 / 20		5th	Government
Jan. 2020		5.13%	▼ 2.98	1 / 20		5th	Opposition
Jun. 2020		TBD		TBD		TBD	TBD