The two dominant political parties in Canada have historically been the Liberal Party of Canada and Conservative Party of Canada ( or its predecessors ), and as of the 2011 election the social-democratic New Democratic Party ( NDP ) has risen to prominence.

Canada, Ireland, and Portugal had right-wing political parties that defied categorization: the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ; Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Progressive Democrats in Ireland ; and the Social Democratic Party of Portugal.

There is also Croatian Democratic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( HDZBIH ) which is considered Croatian Conservative Party and Serbian Democratic Party as Serbian Conservative Party.

These include the largest, the Swiss People's Party ( SVP ), the Christian Democratic People's Party ( CVP ), represented in the Federal Council or cabinet by Doris Leuthard ( in 2011 ), and the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland ( BDP ), which is a spliter of the SVP created after a failed attempt to expel Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf from the SVP.

The European Democratic Group ( ED ) was formed on 17 July 1979 by British Conservative, Danish Conservative and other MEPs after their success in the 1979 elections.

Hague's successor, Iain Duncan Smith, made a concerted drive at one point to resurrect the European Democratic Group, but backed off when it became clear that Conservative MEPs would not move voluntarily.

Conservative Party ( 213 ) Liberal Democrats ( 90 ) HM Most Loyal Opposition Labour Party ( 226 ) Other Opposition Democratic Unionist Party ( 4 ) Ulster Unionist Party ( 3 ) UKIP ( 3 ) Plaid Cymru ( 2 ) Crossbenchers ( 177 ) Lords Spiritual ( 26 ) Non-affiliated ( 21 )

" Other opposition parties such as the Conservative Democratic Party and the Independent Liberal party, were both free to denounce the Sandinista government and participate in the elections.

Socialist parties are examples of mass parties, while the British Conservative Party and the German Christian Democratic Union are examples of hybrid parties.

Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg criticised the magazine writing that " Rolling Stone has essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee.

Present members are: Doris Leuthard ( CDP ), Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf ( Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland ), Ueli Maurer ( SPP ), Didier Burkhalter ( FDP ), Simonetta Sommaruga ( SDP ), Johann Schneider-Ammann ( FDP ) and Alain Berset ( SDP ).

The five parties represented in the Federal Council are generally called the government parties: Free Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Party, Swiss People's Party, and Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland.

Because of the split-off of the Conservative Democratic Party from the Swiss People's Party in 2008, since then the latter holds again only one seat in the Federal Council as of 2011.

* Daniel Ortega Saavedra November 4, 1984 ' won getting the 67. 20 % of the valid votes cast 735. 067 votes equivalent to well above the second party of the Democratic Conservative Party ( PCD ) who just won 154. 127 corresponding to a 14. 00 % of the valid votes.

Conservative Democratic Party legislators took over all of the Southern state governments as all remaining U. S. troops were pulled out of the South by President Rutherford B. Hayes under the Compromise of 1877.

Thus, for an American to say that he or she is a member of the Democratic or Republican party, is quite different from a Briton's stating that he or she is a member of the Conservative or Labour party.

According to reports, the Conservative party's links to far-right parties within Europe has caused a " host of condemnation " from Jewish groups in the US ; Ira Forman, chief executive of the National Jewish Democratic Council, stated that " There is obviously concern in the US when there is legitimacy conferred on individuals and political parties that have had some association with anti-Semitism.

From 1942, the party was known as the Progressive Conservatives, until 2003, when the national party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada.

Denominations that oppose homosexuality include the Roman Catholic Church the Eastern Orthodox churches and some mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Methodist churches, Reformed Church in America the American Baptist Church, as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance, the Presbyterian Church in America and the Southern Baptist Convention.

It is because of the lack of support for fiscal conservatism that federal parties such as the Canadian Alliance never had much success in the region, and the level of support for the new Conservative Party of Canada in the region is uncertain.

* 2003 – The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

While Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark rebuffed the notion, the talks moved ahead and eventually in December 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties voted to rejoin into a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada.

These denominations include the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox church, the Methodist Church, and many other mainline denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America and the American Baptist Church, as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance, and fundamentalist groups and churches, such as the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003.

The Alliance was created out of the United Alternative initiative launched by the Reform Party and several provincial Tory parties as a vehicle to merge with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

In December 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties voted to disband and merge into the Conservative Party of Canada.

In 2000, following the second of the two United Alternative conventions, the party voted to dissolve in favour of a new party: the " Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance ", a declaration of policy and a new constitution.

One day later, the party changed its official name to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, but was almost always called simply " the Canadian Alliance " or " the Alliance ".

On October 15, 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party ( under its new leader Peter MacKay ) announced that they would merge to form a new party, called the Conservative Party of Canada.

* Conservative Democratic Alliance, a United Kingdom pressure group

In 2003 the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives merged to create the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Stephen Harper, a member of the Alliance Church, who went on to become prime minister in 2006.

Mulroney joined the Conservative Party of Canada following its creation in 2003 by the merger of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance.

The Canadian right was not reunited until they merged with Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance, in December 2003 to form the new Conservative Party of Canada.

The CDA was formed mostly by disaffected members of the Conservative Monday Club, another right-wing pressure group, who disagreed with the club's response to the Conservative Party's severing of links with the Club in 2001.

On 27 June 2002, The Daily Telegraph carried a letter from the CDA, signed by Mike Smith, attacking the Conservative Party and its Chairman Francis Maude for " the sleaze, double-dealing, arrogance, incompetence, Europhilia, indifference and drift with which the party is still associated.

That may be seen as distinguishing it from Iain Duncan Smith's Conservative Party leadership, which CDA members often criticised as neoconservative.

The CDA fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in October 2002 was addressed by Roger Knapman, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party ; Ashley Mote, prominent UKIP MEP and author of " Overcrowded Britain-Our Immigration Crisis Exposed " ( 2004 ); John Gouriet, a founder with Norris McWhirter of the Freedom Association alongside Derek Turner, editor of Right Now!

The CDA planned to field its own candidates against Conservative MPs with small majorities at the 2005 General Election, concentrating on Oliver Letwin, the then Shadow Treasury Spokesman, and MP for West Dorset, whom they described as " simply not a Conservative at all ".

In 2002, Iain Duncan Smith expelled CDA Chairman Michael Keith Smith from the Conservative Party for threatening to stand candidates against Conservatives.

In the British general election the following year, Michael Howard promised to work towards having the prohibition removed if the Conservative Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Commons, but the election was won by Blair's Labour Party.

She was a social conservative and a member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship.

This was well received by rank-and-file Conservative delegates.

At the October 2006 Conservative Conference, she was Chief Dragon in a political version of the television programme Dragons ' Den, in which A-list candidates were invited to put forward a policy proposal, which was then torn apart by her team of Rachel Elnaugh, Oliver Letwin and Michael Brown.

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS, ( 21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881 ) was a British Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure.

Although he was a major figure in the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party after 1844, Disraeli's relations with the other leading figures in the party, particularly Lord Derby, the overall leader, were often strained.

He was twice successful as the Glasgow University Conservative Association's candidate for Rector of the University, holding the post for two full terms between 1871 and 1877.

Although a Conservative, Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the demands of the Chartists and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class, helping to found the Young England group in 1842 to promote the view that the landed interests should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by middle-class businessmen.

" If the remainder of the Conservative Party could muster the electoral support necessary to form a government, then Disraeli was now guaranteed high office.

Bentinck, then still Conservative leader in the Commons, joined Disraeli in speaking and voting for the bill, although his own speech was a standard one of toleration.

This purchase allowed him to stand for the county, which was " essential " if one was to lead the Conservative Party at the time.

This was primarily a political strategy designed to give the Conservative party control of the reform process and the subsequent long-term benefits in the Commons, similar to those derived by the Whigs after their 1832 Reform Act.

It was thought that if the Conservatives were able to secure this piece of legislation, then the newly enfranchised electorate may return their gratitude to the Tories in the form of a Conservative vote at the next general election.

This act was unpopular with the right wing of the Conservative Party, most notably Lord Cranborne ( later the Marquess of Salisbury ), who resigned from the government and spoke against the bill, accusing Disraeli of " a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals.

Blake further argued that Disraeli's imperialism " decisively orientated the Conservative party for many years to come, and the tradition which he started was probably a bigger electoral asset in winning working-class support during the last quarter of the century than anything else ".

In 1841 the Liberals lost office to the Conservative Party under Sir Robert Peel, but their period in opposition was short, because the Conservatives split over the repeal of the Corn Laws, a free trade issue, and a faction known as the Peelites ( but not Peel himself, who died soon after ), defected to the Liberal side.

After a brief Conservative interlude ( during which the Second Reform Act was passed by agreement between the parties ), Gladstone won a huge victory at the 1868 election and formed the first Liberal government.

Lloyd George and the Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law wrote a joint letter of support to candidates to indicate they were considered the official Coalition candidates – this " coupon " as it became known was issued against many sitting Liberal MPs, often to devastating effect, though not against Asquith himself.

Lloyd George still claimed to be leading a Liberal government, but he was increasingly under the influence of the rejuvenated Conservative party.

In 1922 the Conservative backbenchers rebelled against the continuation of the coalition, citing in particular the Chanak Crisis over Turkey and Lloyd George's corrupt sale of honours amongst other grievances, and Lloyd George was forced to resign.

Lloyd George offered a degree of support to the Labour government in the hope of winning concessions, including a degree of electoral reform to introduce the alternative vote, but this support was to prove bitterly divisive as the Liberals increasingly divided between those seeking to gain what Liberal goals they could achieve, those who preferred a Conservative government to a Labour one and vice-versa.

Taverne's Lincoln by-election campaign was also helped to a lesser degree by problems with the Conservative candidate, Monday Club chairman Jonathan Guinness.

They argued that a new type of political force was needed to challenge the Conservative Party.