Catholic Labour Party (Sainte-Chloé)

Parti Catholique des Travailleurs
Abbreviation	PCT
President	Jean-Marie Leclercq
Premier	Genevieve Chevallier
Party Chair	Henri Verlois
Founder	Raymond Rivière and Camille Pétain
Founded	17 April 1953
Merger of	Catholic Party and Labour Party
Newspaper	Sotirius Vincit La Croix (affiliated)
Student wing	Catholic Labour Students
Youth wing	Catholic Youth
Membership (2020)	942,921
Ideology	Sotirian Democracy Social Conservativism Trade Unionism Corporatism Catholic social teaching Syncretic politics
Political position	Centre-right (From Centre to Right)
Religion	Solarian Catholic Church
Colours	Yellow, Blue
Slogan	"Dieu, Patrie, Travail" (God, Fatherland, Labour)
Première Chambre	113 / 179
Deuxième Chambre	27 / 65
Parish Governments	1,499 / 2,955
Political parties

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 independence. 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 Légitimistes and the Holisitique movement. Generally, the party 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 Jean-Marie Leclercq and the Premiership of Genevieve Chevallier. It also currently has a majority of seats in the Première Chambre and a plurality of seats in the Deuxième Chambre.

History

Background

The Party has its ideological roots in the later stages of the Viceroyalty of the New Aurean. A growing division between the largest planters on the islands and the smaller landowners over economic concerns following the abolition of slavery in 1830 and Satucin becoming an autonomous Dominion in the Amicable War. Those who supported the crown and the colonial administration during the Capois Rebellion called themselves Légitimistes ("Legitimists"), and formed militias to fight the rebels. After the rebellion's defeat, the Légitimistes were partially rewarded for their support during the rebellion while the planters were humiliated for a time, and began to form some groups and social networks.

Although slavery had been abolished in 1830, many of those with Bahian-descent still lived in poor conditions and without education by the late 1860s. A former slave, Charles Saint-Pierre, who had been educated by the Roderican Order, came up with a plan for how to educate the Bahian population with the island. 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, and betterment" for all of the Bahiaux in Sainte-Chloé. As this fit in with the Gaullicanization policies of the colonial authorities, the measure was permitted. Schools were set up, mostly paid from Church funds, to educate the Bahiaux communities with a comprehensive form of education, which included the basics of Catholic teaching and the ability to read and speak in the Gaullican language. This program quickly achieved its initial 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.

In addition to the education, 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, which in turn created the first political organisations on the island.

Functionalism, Great War and Political Realignment

With the rise of National Functionalism in Gaullica due to the teachings of Gaëtan de Trintignant, the coup of Albert IV and Rafael Duclerque over Albert III would cause mixed reactions on the island. Many of the descendants of the old Légitimistes were aghast at the turn of events, but did not protest openly for fear of reprisal. Many resigned from offices in the administration while increasingly political appointees from the rising Popular Party replaced them. Soon the Popular Party held a broad coalition of planters, secular labour support, and the support of the new Holistique National movement. This was the political situation going into the Great War, which eventually ended in a Gaullican defeat.

With the collapse of the Gaullican Empire, Sainte-Chloé was placed under a Community of Nations Trusteeship known as the Arucian Federation. The support groups for the Popular Party were shattered by the end of the war, leading to the foundation of many new parties. The appointed Governor-General, Pierre Voloix, founded the Democratic Party, which had support from mostly white planters who had backed the Functionalist government, which was initially the largest and most successful party in Sainte-Chloé until the end of the United Provinces. Meanwhile, the Catholic Party was founded a social-conservative party comprised mostly of the Légitimistes who had been skeptical of the functionalist government, while the Labour Party drew the support of organised labour and unions while supporting Catholic teaching. Although other parties were founded, these three would be the most prominent throughout the next era of Chloéois government, with the Catholic and Labour Parties contesting the Democratic stranglehold on the island.

Electoral History

Presidential Elections

Election	Party candidate	Electoral Votes	Result
1954	Camille Pétain	38 / 59	Elected Y
1960		45 / 59	Elected Y
1966	Guillaume Vermonte	29 / 59	Lost N
1972	Pierre Leroy	32 / 59	Elected Y
1978		34 / 59	Elected Y
1984	Philippe Leclercq	37 / 59	Elected Y
1990		41 / 59	Elected Y
1996	Jean-Claude Bennett	33 / 59	Elected Y
2002		23 / 59	Lost N
2008	Jaques Durand	34 / 59	Elected Y
2014		33 / 59	Elected Y
2020	Jean-Marie Leclercq	35 / 59	Elected Y

Première Chambre

Election	Première Chambre					Rank	Government	Première Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−
1954	XXX	XX.XX%	New	65 / 95	65	#1	Majority government	Raymond Rivière
1958	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	71 / 95	6	#1	Majority government	Raymond Rivière
1962	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	75 / 95	4	#1	Majority government	Raymond Rivière
1966	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	59 / 121	16	#2	Opposition	Raymond Rivière
1970	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	64 / 121	5	#1	Majority government	François Laurent
1974	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	66 / 121	2	#1	Majority government	François Laurent
1978	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	64 / 121	2	#1	Majority government	Alexandre du Ponte
1982	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	75 / 121	11	#1	Majority government	Phillipe Leclerq
1986	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	88 / 131	9	#1	Majority government	Dominique Monteclare
1990	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	91 / 131	3	#1	Majority government	Dominique Monteclare
1994	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	89 / 131	2	#1	Majority government	Anne de Lourdes
1998	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	74 / 149	15	#2	Opposition	Jean-Baptiste Florent
2002	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	72 / 149	2	#2	Opposition	Jean-Baptiste Florent
2004	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	84 / 161	12	#1	Majority government	Jean-Baptiste Florent
2008	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	95 / 161	16	#1	Majority government	Jean-Baptiste Florent
2012	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	99 / 161	4	#1	Majority government	Bernard Blanc
2016	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	99 / 179	0	#1	Majority government	Bernard Blanc
2020	XXXX	XX.XX%	XX.XX%	89 / 179	10	#2	Opposition	Bernard Blanc
2021	XXXX	XX.XX%	X.XX%	113 / 179	20	#1	Majority government	Genevieve Chevallier

Deuxième Chambre

It is important to note that in the Deuxième Chambre, not every seat is up for election. 30 of the 65 seats are "life-seats", or seats held by members for life or until resignation. These seats may be partisan. Every term, the newly elected President appoints 20 new Senators to fill in the office for six years; of these seats, 10 must be non-partisan, meaning at most 10 may be partisan selections. The final 15 are reserved for the country's Bishops and territorial abbots, who are non-partisan. Majority refers to a working majority while plurality refers to the holding of the highest amount of partisan seats in the Chambre.

Election	Deuxième Chambre				Rank	Government	Deuxième Leader
	Life Seats	Term Seats	Total Seats	+/−
1954	24 / 30	10 / 20	34 / 65	34	#1	Majority	Pierre Leroy
1960	24 / 30	10 / 20	34 / 65	0	#1	Majority	Pierre Leroy
1966	25 / 30	0 / 20	25 / 65	9	#1	Plurality	Pierre Leroy
1972	22 / 30	10 / 20	32 / 65	7	#1	Plurality	Philippe Leclercq
1978	23 / 30	10 / 20	33 / 65	1	#1	Majority	Philippe Leclercq
1984	23 / 30	10 / 20	33 / 65	0	#1	Majority	Auguste d'Estermont
1990	24 / 30	10 / 20	34 / 65	1	#1	Majority	Auguste d'Estermont
1996	24 / 30	10 / 20	34 / 65	0	#1	Majority	Thomas Garlan
2002	23 / 30	0 / 20	23 / 65	11	#1	Plurality	Thomas Garlan
2008	14 / 30	10 / 20	24 / 65	1	#1	Plurality	Veronique Rivière
2014	17 / 30	10 / 20	27 / 65	3	#1	Plurality	Veronique Rivière
2020	18 / 30	10 / 20	28 / 65	1	#1	Plurality	Claude Sonat