Catholic Labour Party (Sainte-Chloé)

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Parti Catholique des Travailleurs
AbbreviationPCT
PresidentMichel Thiele
PremierGenevieve Chevallier
Party ChairHenri Verlois
FounderRaymond Rivière and Camille Pétain
Founded17 April 1953
Merger ofCatholic Party and Labour Party
NewspaperChristus Vincit
La Croix (affiliated)
Student wingCatholic Labour Students
Youth wingCatholic Youth
Membership (2020)Increase 942,921
IdeologySotirian Democracy
Social Conservativism
Trade Unionism
Corporatism
Catholic social teaching
Syncretic politics
Political positionCentre-right (From Centre to Right)
ReligionSolarian Catholic Church
ColoursBlue and Yellow    
Slogan"Dieu, Patrie, Travail"
(God, Fatherland, Labour)
Première Chambre
113 / 179
Deuxième Chambre
16 / 65
Provincial Governments
381 / 643

The Catholic Labour Party (Gaullican: Parti Catholique des Travailleurs), often abbreviated as the PCT, is a centre-right political party in Sainte-Chloé. It is one of Sainte-Chloé's two major parties alongside with its rival, the Social Democrat Party. It is the current and historically main ruling party of Sainte-Chloé.

Founded in 1953 in a merger between the Catholic Party and Labour Party by Camille Pétain and Raymond Rivière respectively, it was founded to form a united front against the control of the Democratic Party over the United Provinces, and to advocate for the creation of an independent Sainte-Chloé in place of the federal model of several Arucian states. Combining a platform of constitutional reform, the newly-formed party won the 1953 Parliamentary elections and triggered a Constitutional crisis and forced a referendum for indepedence. It was the driving force behind the 1954 Constitution of Sainte-Chloé, and became the primary ruling party of the independent state, with its success forcing the other parties to form the Social Democratic Party, creating the two-party system which Sainte-Chloé still operates under. Due to a variety of causes, most notably the economic crises which plagued the Social Democrat governments, the Catholic Labour has usually controlled the government for long periods of time with comfortable majorities.

The party's ideological roots stems from the pre-Great War Holistique movement, which embraces the idea of Catholic state, saying that the laws of the Republic must be influenced by Catholic social teaching. Socially, the party is socially conservative, generally supporting traditional values, and is heavily against social reform on policies such as abortion and same-sex marriage. The party is also committed to publically funding and promoting Catholic institutions and schools. Economically, the party is corporatist, and has from its beginning been a firm supporter of trade unions, especially religious ones. While ideologically opposed to both socialism and capitalism as forms of materialism, it pursues a middle-ground between the two with a social market economy. The party also is Pro-Gaullican, being in part inspired by the Catholic Labour Union structuring the constitution in part off of Gaullica's model, as well as promoting Sainte-Chloé's Gaullican heritage.

Since creation of the independent Sainte-Chloé in 1954, the Catholic Labour Party has been the dominant force in Chloéois politics, having controlled a government in Parliament for a total of 47 years, well over twice the 19 years which the Social Democrats have had a government. The party has also fielded 5 out of 9 Presidents; of these, three have served two terms, unlike any of the Social Democratic Presidents. The Catholic Labour Party is the current ruling party of Sainte-Chloé, under the Presidency of Michel Thiele and the Premiership of Genevieve Chevallier. It also currently has a majority of seats in the Première Chambre and a majority of provincial appointed seats in the Deuxième Chambre.

History

Origins

The Party has its ideological roots in the later stages of the Colony of Sainte-Chloé. Although slavery had been abolished in 1830, many Bahiaux still lived in poor conditions and without education by the late 1860s. The policy of Gaullicanization had already seen success among the more affluent free Bahiaux communities, including such individuals as Charles Saint-Pierre. Together with the Archbishop of Port de la Sainte, Jean-Baptiste d'Aste, Saint-Pierre founded the Holistique ("holistic") movement, which sought the "spiritual, educational, moral and economic betterment" for all of the Bahiaux on Sainte-Chloé. As this fit in with the Gaullicanization policies of the colonial authorities, the measure was largely approved. Schools were set up, mostly paid from Church funds, to educate the Bahiaux communities in the basics of Catholic teaching, to read and speak in the Gaullican language, training for kinds of labour, and to provide oppurtunity for further education for those who wished it. This program quickly achieved its intial aims and increased in size and scope, which saw an increase in priests from the Bahiaux, many of whom went on to further education in their own communities. The movement largely achieved its ends, and set up an educational system which helped to increasingly integrate the Bahiaux into the Gaullican colonial society by the early twentieth century. The group was not without its opponents from the white community, which viewed the former slaves with disdain, or from certain Bahiaux thinkers, who argued that the Holistique movement was destroying their Bahian heritage and "whitewashing" them.

In addition to the education and Gaullicanization, the Church also supported the rising labour movement in the late 19th and the early 20th century as the country began to industrialize. Supported by Papal documents protecting the rights of workers, the Church was quick to sponsor many of the early trade unions which arose in the country. Because of this, the Labour movement for the most part was tied to the Catholic Church from some of the earlier stages, and began to develop close ties with the thinkers of the Holistique movement, who saw the support of trade unions as an integral part of the economic "betterment" of the Bahiaux communities. They developed an idea of a corporatist society under Sotirian virtues, as being instrumental to the rise of both capitalism and socialism, both of which were percieved as materialistic and opposed to Catholic ideals. In response to the shift away from socialism, a secular, more socialistic labour movement of other trade unions split off from the main labour movement. These developments led to the creation of the closely aligned Catholic and Labour Parties.

With the collapse of the Gaullican Empire during the Great War, Sainte-Chloé was placed under a Community of Nations Trusteeship known as the Arucian Federation. The appointed Governor-General, Pierre Voloix, founded the Democratic Party, which had support from mostly white elites, which was initially the largest and most successful party in Sainte-Chloé.

Formation of the Republic

Economic Crises

Modern History

Ideology

Factions

Organization

Leadership

Electoral History

Presidential Elections

Election Party candidate Votes % Result
1954 Camille Pétain XXXX 54.74% Elected Green tickY
1960 XXXX 67.39% Elected Green tickY
1966 Guillaume Vermonte XXXX 49.43% Lost Red XN
1972 Pierre Leroy XXXX 53.22% Elected Green tickY
1978 Dominique Monteclare XXXX 48.81% Lost Red XN
1984 Philippe Leclercq XXXX 57.63% Elected Green tickY
1990 XXXX 59.74% Elected Green tickY
1996 Auguste d'Estermont XXXX 20.44% Lost Red XN
2002 XXXX 18.62% Lost Red XN
2008 Jaques Durand XXXX 57.33% Elected Green tickY
2014 XXXX 53.75% Elected Green tickY
2020 Michel Thiele XXXX 51.22% Elected Green tickY

Première Chambre

Election Première Chambre Rank Government Première Leader
Votes % ±pp Seats won +/−
1954 XXX XX.XX% New
65 / 95
Increase 65 #1 Increase Majority government Raymond Rivière
1958 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
71 / 95
Increase 6 #1 Steady Majority government Raymond Rivière
1962 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
75 / 95
Increase 4 #1 Steady Majority government Raymond Rivière
1965 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
59 / 121
Decrease 16 #2 Decrease Opposition Raymond Rivière
1969 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
69 / 121
Increase 10 #1 Increase Majority government François Laurent
1973 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
71 / 121
Increase 2 #1 Increase Majority government François Laurent
1977 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
60 / 121
Decrease 11 #2 Decrease Opposition François Laurent
1981 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
79 / 121
Increase 19 #1 Increase Majority government Dominique Monteclare
1985 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
88 / 131
Increase 9 #1 Steady Majority government Dominique Monteclare
1989 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
91 / 131
Increase 3 #1 Steady Majority government Jean-Baptiste Florent
1993 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
89 / 131
Decrease 2 #1 Steady Majority government Jean-Baptiste Florent
1997 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
74 / 149
Decrease 15 #2 Decrease Opposition Jean-Baptiste Florent
2001 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
68 / 149
Decrease 6 #2 Steady Opposition Jean-Baptiste Florent
2005 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
79 / 161
Increase 11 #2 Steady Opposition Jean-Baptiste Florent
2008 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
95 / 161
Increase 16 #1 Increase Majority government Jean-Baptiste Florent
2012 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
99 / 161
Increase 4 #1 Steady Majority government Bernard Blanc
2016 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
99 / 179
Steady 0 #1 Steady Majority government Bernard Blanc
2020 XXXX XX.XX% XX.XX%
89 / 179
Decrease 10 #2 Decrease Opposition Bernard Blanc
2021 XXXX XX.XX% X.XX%
113 / 179
Increase 20 #1 Increase Majority government Genevieve Chevallier

Deuxième Chambre

It is important to note that in the Deuxième, there are only 28 Partisan seats, which every provincial legislature appoints 4 seats to appoint from. The remaining 37 seats are non partisan and either appointed by the President or reserved for the country's Bishops. Majority here signifies the possession of 15 or more seats of the elected parliament seats.

Election Deuxième Chambre Rank Government Deuxième Leader
Seats won +/−
1954
24 / 65
Increase 24 #1 Increase Elected majority Pierre Leroy
1960
24 / 65
Steady 0 #1 Steady Elected majority Pierre Leroy
1966
16 / 65
Decrease 8 #1 Steady Elected majority Pierre Leroy
1972
20 / 65
Increase 4 #1 Steady Elected majority Philippe Leclercq
1978
16 / 65
Decrease 4 #1 Steady Elected majority Philippe Leclercq
1984
24 / 65
Increase 8 #1 Steady Elected majority Auguste d'Estermont
1990
28 / 65
Increase 4 #1 Steady Elected majority Auguste d'Estermont
1996
20 / 65
Decrease 8 #1 Steady Elected majority Thomas Garlan
2002
12 / 65
Decrease 8 #2 Decrease Elected minority Thomas Garlan
2008
20 / 65
Increase 8 #1 Increase Elected majority Veronique Rivière
2014
20 / 65
Steady 0 #1 Steady Elected majority Veronique Rivière
2020
16 / 65
Decrease 4 #1 Steady Elected majority Claude Sonat