We show that every finite, finitely related algebra in a congruence distributive variety has a near unanimity term operation. As a consequence we solve the near unanimity problem for relational structures: it is decidable whether a given finite set of relations on a finite set admits a compatible near unanimity operation. This consequence also implies that it is decidable whether a given finite constraint language defines a constraint satisfaction problem of bounded strict width.

We prove that if a finite algebra $\m a$ generates a congruence distributive variety, then the subalgebras of the powers of $\m a$ satisfy a certain kind of intersection property that fails for finite idempotent algebras that locally exhibit affine or unary behaviour. We demonstrate a connection between this property and the constraint satisfaction problem.