Popular Unity Party (Iraq)

The Popular Unity Party was a political party in Iraq led by Youssif Hamdan. It was founded in 1995 and was initially known as the Communist Party of Iraq (CPI). The CPI split away from the Iraqi Communist Party during the latter period of Saddam Hussein's regime. Many saw the CPI as a puppet party of the regime, whose existence would give the outside world an impression that the country was a multi-party state. The party met with foreign delegations visiting Iraq. It seemed the intentions of the party would have been to join the government as a junior partner within the National Progressive Front, similar to the coalition of the same name set-up in neighbouring Syria, but the idea was later discarded. The CPI was never given possibility to register as a legal party, though its leader was in the Iraqi parliament as of 2001.

Popular Unity Party
حزب الوحدة الشعبية
AbbreviationCPI (as Communist Party of Iraq)
PUP (as Popular Unity Party)
LeaderYoussif Hamdan
FounderYoussif Hamdan
Founded1995 (as the Communist Party of Iraq)
Dissolvedaround 2003 (as the CPI)
Split fromIraqi Communist Party
IdeologyCommunism
Saddamism
Arab socialism
Pan-Arabism
Marxism
Secularism
Pro-Ba'athism
Political positionLeft-wing
National affiliationNational Progressive Front (de facto)

Following the fall of the Saddam's regime in 2003, the party was reconstructed as the Popular Unity Party.

References

  1. ↑ Jewish Political Studies Review Vol. 13. 2001. p. 234.