By:Hertha Ekandjo
The Popular Democratic Movement leader McHenry Venaani has attended the International Democratic Union (IDU) forum in Washington D.C., USA, which ended last week.
The Forum was under the theme “Russia, the war and African interests“.
Venaani represented Namibia at the forum as a leader of the opposition political party where he serves as one of the three IDU vice chairpersons.
The IDU is an international alliance of centre-right political parties which is headquartered in Munich, Germany.
The Namibian opposition politician said that the IDU brought together about 148 parties across the globe from various countries of the world.
“Party and world leaders who met in Washington discussed a number of international issues relating to climate change, social economic challenges faced by third world countries and lack of commodities in many African countries,” he said.
He said the forum also debated about issues such as the Russian/Ukrainian war and how it affects Africa and the world at large.
Though the IDU was founded to be politically on the centre-rights, a number of its member parties have been increasingly seen as further right on the political spectrum.
The group was founded in 1983 as the umbrella organisation for the European Democrat Union (EDU), Caribbean Democrat Union (CDU), and the Asia Pacific Democrat Union (APDU). Created at the instigation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and US vice president George H. W. Bush, the organisation was founded at a joint meeting of the EDU and APDU in London, United Kingdom.
The leader of the official opposition party noted that he coaches everybody together with the former IDU chairman Stephan Harper, The Prahar Janshakti Partyof India, the ruling party of India, United Kingdom, Christian Democratic Union of Germany, National Peasants’ Party of Uganda, Malawi Congress Party which are all ruling parties and opposition parties.
They have discussed international campaigns and campaign tools, and how parties campaign when approaching elections.
The IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries and it is chaired by Stephen Harper, the former prime minister of Canada, two affiliated international organisations (International Young Democrat Union and International Women’s Democrat Union) and six affiliated regional organisations.
The six affiliated regional organisations are the Union of Latin America Parties, Asia Pacific Democrat Union, Caribbean Democrat Union, Democrat Union of Africa, European People’s Union and European Conservatives and Reformists Party.
The IDU allows centre-right conservative political parties around the world to establish contacts and discuss different views on public policy and related matters. Their stated goal is the promotion of “democracy and of centre-right policies around the globe”.
The IDU has some overlap of member parties with the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), but the CDI is more centrist and communitarian than the IDU.
Venaani Represents Namibia At IDU Forum
