Gosant

In Carucerean politics the gosant (lit. big centre) refers to political parties and movements that are mainly organized to pursue the political interests of the social or ethnic communities they represent, instead of having a specific or consistent ideological orientation. To achieve this, they seek to ensure their proximity to the current ruling political party in order to gain advantages and concessions and to maintain clientelistic networks for their constituents. Despite its name, they are not exclusively centrist but the term instead refers to their central role in Carucere's politics. The gosant is often contrasted with the ideolojis or the ideology-based political parties, such as the Democratic Party even though they may be favored by a certain demographic.

History

The term has its origins from national politics during the 1950s, when it was used to collectively refer to the nominally center left political parties that revolved around ethnic interests than ideological orientation. At the time, the gosant consisted of three main national parties; the National Party, United Reform Party, and the Social Republican Party, which represented Creole, Bahian, and Dezevauni ethnic interests respectively. While the three parties generally espoused similar policies, they had mutually exclusive interests and competed for political influence during elections and distributed resources and political favors to their community, usually to the detriment of the others when in power.

The gosant would gain its modern prominence after the decline of the Carucerean National Congress in the 1980s, and the formation of the blouk (bloc), a political alliance between the United Progressive Party (PPI) and the General Assembly for Development Party in 1985. By cooperating and evenly dividing resources, the two former rivals no longer had to compete against each other and had more resources to spend for their voter bases. The alliance often clashed with President Edwin Serville over political priorities and patronage systems. The blouk would remain in power in the Senate until 2002.

President Daniel Sayasone sought to break up the blouk and pursued a policy of playing both parties off each other. President Sayasone would offer agreements or proposals to one party that would favor them over their partner and force them to decide to accept or not the deal. These disputes would break up the blouk in 1998, leading the Democratic Party's first government in nearly 30 years. The gosant would eventually return to prominence when a PPI Premier returned to power in 2010. Instead of a formal alliance, they cooperated with other parties on an ad hoc basis in exchange for support. Today the gosant consists of two major parties and several minor ones.

Members

The following parties have generally been considered to be part of the gosant.

Party	Senators	Description
National Party of Carucere (NPK)	XX	Founded in 1943 by middle class creoles to contest District elections during the United Provinces, it is the oldest extant political party in Carucere, and represents moderate and Catholic Creoles and Dezevauni-Carucereans today. It participated in the Serville and Sayasone governments and supported the MPK's government in 2000. It was neutral during Neil Gaubina's reelection campaign in 2022. Nominally center-left, but under the Gaubina government it has taken a centrist stance.
United Progressive Party (PRP)	XX	Founded in 1951 as a merger of three parties to represent the Dezevaun-Carucerans, particularly those who continue to practice Badi, community. It participated in the Serville, Sayasone and Gubina governments and lead a government in 2000. Supported Neil Gubina's reelection campaign in 2022. Nominally left-wing and left-wing nationalist, but it mainly is a populist party.
National Labour Party (PNT)	XX	Founded in 1953 by officials from the Solarian Catholic Church, it mainly represents Catholic Bahians. It participated in the Sayasone and Gaubina governments. It was neutral in Neil Gaubina's reelection campaign in 2022, but backed him in the Senate runoff election in exchange for political favors. Nominally centre-left.
Democratic Social Party (PDS)	XX	Founded in 1967 to represent Amendist Bahio-Carucereans, it has become more socially conservative in recent decades. It participated in the Lurel, Serville, and Sayasone governments but opposed and Gaubina's governments. It opposed Neil Gaubina's reelection campaign in 2022, but declared neutrality in the Senate runoff election after lobbying. While it is more ideologically coherent than the rest of the gosant on social issues, it has no specific stances outside of those issues and thus is nominally centre-right to right-wing.
General Assembly for Development Party (BJPD)	XX	Founded in 1995 as a general association to represent the interests of the Carucerean Maroon community. It participated in the Lurel, Serville, Sayasone, and Gaubina governments and supported the MPK's government in 2000. It supported Neil Gaubina's reelection campaign in 2022, in exchange for political favors. Nominally centrist/centre-left.