Chapter 197 Rebuilding Parliament and Institutional Reform

Although the number of nobles and officials who participated in the rebellion was only about a hundred, the actual number of people affected far exceeded this number, reaching thousands.

If the armed forces eliminated in the rebellion are counted, the number of people involved in the rebellion is actually even greater. After being tried, these people will all be sent to the South Morocco colony and Congo territory in Africa for colonial development.

They will become a member of the ordinary Spanish plantation together with the local Moroccans and Congolese. In order to ensure that these people will not unite again to make trouble, these thousands of people will be dispersed to various parts of South Morocco and Congo and strictly guarded.

Some parts of South Morocco are barren deserts, and the Congo territory is also an uninhabited African inland outside the colonial strongholds.

In such a place, even if they successfully escaped Spanish supervision, they would most likely be buried in the wild.

This is no joke. The well-equipped and large-scale colonial expedition team is in danger of life if they are not careful, not to mention the criminals who may have escaped from the plantation and other places of custody by chance.

Unless enough food, weapons and medicine can be found, fleeing on the African continent is a torture worse than death.

Carlo did not pay much attention to the fate of these traitorous nobles and officials, but was considering whether to reorganize the Spanish Parliament.

Although Carlo dissolved the parliament on the grounds that the parliament performed poorly and the election of an acting prime minister violated the constitution, the Spanish Parliament has developed to a point where it has enough influence.

Unless those political parties can be further dissolved, the parliament will eventually have to be reorganized.

Carlo does not intend to establish an autocratic government, and it is also very beneficial to use the parliament reasonably.

However, the power of the Spanish Parliament is too great at present, and certain restrictions must be imposed, and the Spanish Parliament must be reorganized and the constitution amended to form a more reasonable Spanish Kingdom government.

On November 17, 1875, Carlo convened a meeting of the Spanish Senate and announced the decision to merge the Royal Parliament and the Senate to establish the Royal Senate.

The newly established Royal Senate instantly became a huge institution with hundreds of senators, and it has become the only parliamentary institution in Spain at present.

Immediately afterwards, Carlo convened a Royal Senate meeting for an open vote to discuss whether to restore the House of Representatives and re-elect members.

The final vote of the Senate was in favor of restoring the House of Representatives, which put the reorganization of the Spanish Parliament on the agenda.

On November 19, 1875, Carlo announced the reorganization of the Spanish House of Representatives and would re-elect members of the Spanish House of Representatives from December to January.

Unlike the previous House of Representatives, the reorganized House of Representatives will have a full 298 seats, which will be distributed proportionally to the major regions and colonies of Spain.

Take Madrid, the capital of Spain, as an example. Madrid currently has a total population of more than 500,000 and will receive 8 seats in the House of Representatives.

These eight seats for the House of Representatives will be publicly elected in the Madrid Chamber, and members of the Madrid Chamber are eligible to nominate other candidates or register for election.

The eight people with the highest number of votes will obtain seats in the House of Representatives for a term of three years. If any accident occurs during this period and they are unable to serve as members of the House, the vacant regional chamber will be re-elected to fill the position.

With more seats in the House of Representatives and all of them elected by the parliaments of the major regions and colonies, it is possible to avoid a party from controlling a large number of seats in the House of Representatives.

Under this rule, a party that can still occupy the majority of seats in the House of Representatives can also prove to a certain extent that it is deeply supported and trusted by the people.

Along with the seats in the House of Representatives, the Spanish laws on political parties and the laws on the election of the cabinet government were also amended.

First of all, it is about the political parties in Spain.

In Spain, if you want to establish a legal political party, you must report it to the Royal Senate for review and voting, and it can only be regarded as a legal party after obtaining at least 50% of the votes.

On the contrary, it is an illegal party and is not allowed to engage in any political activities, nor are members of illegal parties allowed to participate in activities such as the election of members.

Most of the senators in the Royal Senate are currently nobles, and the nobles obey Carlo's orders. This also means that Carlo in Spain can determine the legality of any political party at present.

This ensures to a great extent that there will be no large parties such as the Republican Party in Spain to interfere with the Spanish parliamentary elections and government elections.

As long as Carlo is unwilling, any party established in the future will be considered illegal. Illegal parties cannot get any support from the government, nor can they participate in any political activities, so their chances of expansion are quite slim.

Currently, there are only three legal political parties declared by the Spanish Royal Senate, namely the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.

These three parties are also the original top three parties in Spain, and there is a big gap with other parties. Naturally, it is impossible for Carlo to declare them illegal for no reason.

Regarding the election of the Spanish cabinet government, with the expansion of seats in the House of Representatives, the conditions for the election have also ushered in certain modifications.

Although the cabinet government is theoretically formed by the prime minister or the ruling party, there are currently several positions in the Spanish cabinet government that are not appointed by the prime minister, but by the king as Carlo and elected by the Royal Senate.

The cabinet positions directly appointed by Carlo are the deputy prime minister and the minister of royal affairs.

The official name of the deputy prime minister in Spain is the Minister of State, which means a cabinet minister who assists the prime minister in handling state affairs. The deputy prime minister will play the role of the prime minister when the prime minister is unable to handle government affairs, so it is still relatively critical.

The Minister of Royal Affairs, as the name suggests, is a cabinet minister who helps the government deal with matters related to the royal family. Because it is necessary to have sufficient understanding of royal affairs, this position is also directly appointed by Carlo.

In addition, the Minister of Colonial Affairs and the Minister of Justice are elected by the Senate, and the prime minister and the ruling party have no power to replace or nominate them.

The Minister of Defense, as one of the most important positions in the cabinet, was also listed separately by Carlo. Of course, the Minister of Defense is not directly appointed by Carlo, nor is it elected by the Senate, but is appointed by voting within the Spanish Defense Committee.

The members of the Spanish Defense Committee are: the King of Spain, the then Prime Minister of Spain, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Army, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Navy, the then Chief of Staff of the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guards and the then Minister of Defense, a total of seven people.

The seven-member Spanish Defense Committee votes to elect the new Minister of Defense of Spain every time the cabinet government changes, avoiding the situation where the Minister of Defense may be completely controlled by the Prime Minister.

For Carlo, such a rule is obviously in his favor. As the Grand Marshal of the Spanish Navy and Army, it is quite normal for the King of Spain to become a member of the Defense Committee.

And most of the remaining members of the Defense Committee are also senior military officials, especially the then Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guards, who is completely under the command of Carlo.

This also means that Carlo only needs to win over one person among the Marshals of the Navy and Army, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff, and it will be difficult to lose in the vote for the Minister of Defense. As long as he wins over two of them, Carlo will have the right to appoint the Minister of Defense.

Although he cannot directly decide the candidate for the Minister of Defense, the power of the Spanish Prime Minister is still very large.

The nine departments of finance, industry, agriculture, people's livelihood, transportation, public security, medical care, education, and diplomacy are still controlled by the Prime Minister, plus the Prime Minister, there are ten cabinet seats.

The positions of Secretary of State, Minister of Justice, Minister of Royal Affairs, Minister of Colonial Affairs and Minister of Defense, which are not controlled by the Prime Minister, actually only have five seats.

But as long as the most important military is in his own hands, no matter how the candidate for the Spanish Prime Minister changes, Carlo does not have to worry about a similar crisis.

Of course, it is impossible for Spain to have a ruler like Prime Minister Primo in the future. Prime Minister Primo's monopoly of power is quite special, because he not only controls the government, but also controls the Spanish army.

It is precisely because of this that Carlo took the Minister of Defense out of the appointment of the Prime Minister and handed it over to the National Defense Committee for election.

Among the six seats in the National Defense Committee, Carlo himself has one seat, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guards has another seat.

As long as he can win over any two of the remaining four positions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and Army, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of the General Staff, Carlo can control the candidate for the Spanish Minister of Defense.

By controlling the candidate for the Minister of Defense, he can also unscrupulously exert his influence on the army. With the cooperation of the Guards, Carlo, who controls the army, will completely control the whole of Spain and let Spain move in the direction he points to.

Although the Spanish parliament will be reorganized, Carlo does not intend to re-elect the Spanish cabinet government.

It is the most appropriate choice to continue the current cabinet government. After all, Carlo has a high voice in the current Spanish cabinet government, and blind changes are not good.

The current Spanish cabinet positions are as follows:

Archduke Serrano serves as the Chief Minister of Spain and the Minister of Defense. In name, he is the person with the highest status and the greatest power in the current Spanish government.

Count Canovas serves as the Minister of State and the Minister of Industry. Like Archduke Serrano, he is a senior official who holds two cabinet seats.

Unlike Archduke Serrano, Archduke Serrano is nominally the Prime Minister, but he is actually mainly responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of Defense.

Although Canovas is only the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, he has actually begun to bear the economic development of the whole of Spain.

After all, Carlo had said before that Archduke Serrano has enough status and influence, but he is not very good at economic development.

There are no corresponding candidates for the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Colonial Affairs at present, and the newly merged Royal Senate has not yet started the election for these two cabinet seats.

Carlo, the Minister of Royal Affairs, intends to let Menotti take the position. It can be seen from the exploration of Africa that Menotti is loyal and has certain abilities, and Kano does not mind using him.

Ewald Bartel is still the Minister of Finance. Ewald is the confidant of Prime Minister Primo and is indeed very capable in managing finances.

Since the cabinet has not held an election, there is naturally no need to replace a very capable Minister of Finance.

Jovillar Soler is the Minister of Agriculture. As a member of the Conservative Party, Jovillar Soler has gained Carlo's initial trust and has been reused to a certain extent.

Carlisle Daniels is the Minister of People's Livelihood. Carlisle is also a member of the Progressive Party, but unlike the quite radical Ruiz, Carlisle is obviously conservative.

He did not have much merit in his tenure as Minister of People's Livelihood, but he also did not make any mistakes. His political achievements can only be regarded as mediocre.

Ruiz was originally the Minister of Transport. However, Ruiz, who was elected as the acting prime minister by the parliament, performed extremely poorly in the workers' march. While dissolving the parliament, Carlo also abolished the Spanish cabinet at that time.

Ruiz, who served as the acting prime minister for only one day, was gloriously unemployed and was arrested by the Spanish army for endangering the country.

Carlo did not have much good feelings for such a radical reformer. If this guy was allowed to take power, I am afraid that Spain would become a republic in a short time.

But the lessons of history are enough. Spain did become a republic during this period, but the republic did not mean the end of the struggle within Spain. On the contrary, the struggle between various political parties and forces led to the collapse of the republic that had been maintained for several years.

From the perspective of God, this period of Spanish republican history was quite hasty in its opening and ended quite badly.

Radical reformers like Ruiz did not see the situation in Spain clearly. Spain does not need a republic at present. Instead, it is a monarchy that can maintain the unity and stability of the country.

The seat of the Minister of Transport is currently vacant, but Carlo intends to promote Icarus Montoya, the Deputy Minister of Transport.

Icarus' performance in the transport department is quite good, and can even be regarded as excellent. If Icarus had not blocked some of Ruiz's more radical decisions, perhaps the performance of the transport department this year would have been greatly reduced.

Letting such a guy who is both capable and familiar with the transport department take over the department can effectively reduce the work stagnation caused by the rotation of department heads for the Spanish transport department.

The Minister of Public Security is Garcia Herrera. Garcia is a rare non-partisan person in the Spanish cabinet government, but he is also a member of the Spanish aristocracy, and in theory he is more inclined to the Conservative Party.

The name of the Minister of Health, Carlo, is unfamiliar, which may also be related to the poor medical environment in Spain.

After all, the medical level of this era is indeed very poor. Carlo's focus on medical research on drugs and biology is mainly on medical treatment, and he does not pay much attention to the medical department.

The current Minister of Health is Javier Haxon, a well-known figure in biology and medicine.

Gerard Wilson continues to serve as Minister of Education. Gerard Wilson has made good achievements in literacy education in Spain, and Carlo also intends to further reuse him.

Anyway, there is no term limit for cabinet ministers in Spain. As long as they are capable enough, it is not an exaggeration to have a few decades in a cabinet position.

Finally, there is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is also a member of the nobility and has the title of Marquis. Carlo is not unfamiliar with the Marquis of Everton, because the Marquis of Everton is not only the first Spanish nobleman to express goodwill to Carlo, but also one of the first Spanish nobles to join the Royal Parliament.