International Democrat Union IDU Update, 12 September 2014 1

International Democrat Union
IDU Update, 12 September 2014
1.
IDU Party Leaders Meeting, Seoul Korea, 19 to 21 November 2014
2.
New Leadership in UPLA
3.
Sweden – Alliance parties gaining ground
4.
New Zealand – IDU Member on course for election win
5.
Austria – New OVP Leader, Reinhold Mitterlehner
6.
Colombia – Conservative Party Elects New National Board
7.
IYDU Announces Pre-Election Study Visit to Taiwan
8.
Election Calendar 2014 – Upcoming Elections
1.
IDU Party Leaders Meeting, Seoul Korea, 19 to 21 November 2014
All IDU Party Leaders and IDU Officers should by now have received a personal invitation to
attend the upcoming IDU PLM in Korea, sent via the International Secretaries of IDU
Members. If IDU Members have not received the invitation from the IDU Secretariat, please
contact us urgently.
The Seoul meetings – under the theme “Strengthening Freedom and Democracy; Meeting
New Challenges” - will start in the morning of Thursday 20 November with meetings of the
Executive Committee, IDU’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and APDU. The
President of Korea, Madame Park, Geun-Hye has invited the Party Leaders to the Blue House
(the Presidential Office) on Thursday evening.
The Party Leaders plenary meeting, with opportunities for short contributions from each Party
Leader, will be from morning until lunch on Friday 21 November followed by an optional
visit to the Panmunjom (the DMZ) on the afternoon of Friday 21 November.
The tentative schedule, technical information, registration and hotel booking forms can be
downloaded from the IDU intranet. Draft Minutes from the recent Executive in Ottawa, where
the PLM preparations were discussed, are also now available.
Please note that the deadline for hotel booking within the PLM block is 30 September, so
please book accommodation as soon as possible and register with the IDU secretariat.
2.
New Leadership in UPLA
IDU’s regional union in Latin America, UPLA, at its General Assembly in Panama August 29
– 30 elected Armando Calderón Sol, former president of El Salvador, as its new president.
Mr Calderón Sol takes over the position after senator Jovino Novoa (Chile).
The General Assembly accepted the Libertarian Movement of Costa Rica, formerly a member
of the Liberal International, as a new member, bringing the number of UPLA member parties
up to 21.
The Assembly in a statement expressed solidarity with Project Venezuela representatives
Henrique Salas Römer and IDU Assistant Chairman Henrique Fernando Salas Römer who are
being increasingly persecuted on political grounds by the Venezuelan regime.
3.
Sweden – Alliance parties gain ground in opinion polls
Sweden’s general election on Sunday is becoming a cliffhanger as the centre-right alliance led
by IDU Member the Moderate Party has closed the gap on the centre-left. In the final days of
the election campaign more focus has been on what the alternatives would be, and why
change course from one that has been a great success for Sweden - not least the way the
centre-right Government has led Sweden through Europe's financial crisis.
At the start of the campaign alliance parties were more than ten points behind the left. Recent
opinion polls indicate the alliance parties are as little as 3.5% behind and in a number of
televised debates Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt have come through as the winner.
The outcome on Sunday is now completely open. We wish our Moderate friends every
success in their campaign to get out the votes before the polls close on Sunday!
4.
New Zealand – IDU Member on course for election win
IDU’s Member National Party retains a clear lead ahead of next weeks’ election poll. Whilst
recent opinion polls have shown Labour gaining some ground, the National Party is still in a
strong position on 49.2% compared to Labour’s 25.4% with the Green Party on 12.7%. Prime
Minister Key remains the favourite with 61% of voters saying they would prefer to have John
Key as Prime Minister compared to just 17% for Labour leader David Cunliffe.
The National Party’s remarkable standing in the polls is a reflection of the strong economic
growth, low unemployment and rising wages that the government has delivered.
5.
Austria – New Leader of ÖVP, Reinhold Mitterlehner
ÖVP, IDU’s Member in Austria has a new party chairman, Reinhold Mitterlehner, who is also
Austria’s Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Science, Research and Economy.
After earning a PhD in law in 1980 he started his professional career in the Upper Austrian
Economic Chamber and the Austrian Economic League (Wirtschaftsbund), from where he
went on to work as Deputy Secretary General of the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO)
from 2000 until 2008.
Mitterlehner started his political career in 1991 as a local councillor in Ahorn for the Austrian
People's Party (ÖVP) and was elected as a Member of the Austrian Parliament (National
Council) in 2000, where he chaired the Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee.
After two successful terms in office, he served as Federal Minister of Economy, Family and
Youth between 2008 and 2014. In August 2014 he was elected as designated leader of the
(ÖVP) and appointed Vice Chancellor of the Federal Government.
Congratulations to Vice Chancellor Mitterlehner!
6.
Colombia – Conservative Party Elects New National Board
IDU’s Member in Colombia, the Conservative Party has elected House Representative David
Barguil Assis as its new Chairman and Angela Ospina de Nicholls as Vice-president of the
Party. David Assis becomes the Conservative Party’s youngest Chairman in its 165 year
history.
David Assis hailed his election as the start of a ‘New Conservatism’ that would focus on the
priorities of ordinary families. He emphasised that his agenda would focus on providing jobs,
education and healthcare. With this agenda, he pledged to make the Conservative Party the
leading political force in Colombia.
Congratulations to David Barguil Assis and Angela Ospina de Nicholls!
7.
IYDU Announces Pre-Election Study Visit to Taiwan
Save the date: The International Young Democrat Union will hold a study trip to Taipei,
Republic of China (Taiwan) 22th to the 26th of November hosted by KMT Youth.
IYDU Chairman, Charlotte Spurkeland said ‘The IYDU is pleased to be able to support our
friends in KMT Youth ahead of their local elections. Taiwan is one of Asia’s strongest
democracies and this will be a great opportunity to observe the election process first hand.’
For more details about the event, please contact IYDU’s Secretary General, Sandy Tanner on
[email protected].
8.
Election Calendar 2014 – Upcoming Elections
14 September - Sweden, General (Parliament, County and Municipal)
20 September - New Zealand, General (Parliament)
5 October - Brazil (1st round) President and Parliament
5 October - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliament
12 October - Bolivia, President (1st round) and Congress
12 October - Bulgaria, Parliament
24 October - Botswana, Parliament
26 October - Ukraine, Parliament
4 November - USA, House of Representatives and Senate
30 November - Moldova, Parliamentary
December - Bolivia, President (2nd round, if necessary)
The IDU wishes member parties every success in their forthcoming elections!
With best wishes,
Eirik Moen
IDU Secretary General
NEWS: You can submit news to be included in the UPDATE and information about events to
be included in the calendar by sending it to the IDU secretariat. Documents may be edited.
Articles and viewpoints printed in the UPDATE do not necessarily mean the endorsement by
the International Democrat Union of a particular policy, unless the Executive or the Party
Leaders meeting has already supported it expressly.

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