Chapter 199: Reorganizing the Parliament, Institutional Reform

Do not underestimate the rebellion; although the number of nobles and officials involved totaled less than a hundred, the actual number of people affected far exceeded that figure, reaching as many as a thousand.

If one counts the armed forces eliminated during the rebellion, the number of participants is actually even higher. Once tried, these people will all be sent to the South Morocco colony and the Congo territory in Africa for colonial development work.

Together with the local Moroccans and Congolese, they will become members of ordinary Spanish plantations. To ensure these people do not unite to cause trouble again, these thousands will be dispersed throughout South Morocco and the Congo and kept under strict guard.

Parts of South Morocco are desolate deserts, and the Congo territory, outside of the colonial strongholds, is likewise a sparsely populated African interior.

In such places, even if they successfully escape Spanish supervision, they are highly likely to perish in the wilderness.

This is no joke. Well-equipped and numerous colonial expeditions face life-threatening crises if they are not careful, let alone criminals who might luckily escape from plantations or other detention sites.

Unless they can find sufficient food, weapons, and medicine, fleeing across the African continent is a torture worse than death.

Carlos did not pay too much attention to the fate of these treasonous nobles and officials, but was instead considering whether to reorganize the Spanish Parliament.

Although Carlos dissolved the Parliament on the grounds that it performed poorly and that the election of an acting Prime Minister violated the constitution, the Spanish Parliament had developed enough influence by now.

Unless those political parties could be further dissolved, the Parliament would eventually have to be reconstituted.

Carlos did not intend to establish an autocratic dictatorship; there were also many benefits to making reasonable use of the Parliament.

However, the current power of the Spanish Parliament was too vast; it had to be restricted, and the Spanish Parliament had to be reorganized and the constitution amended to form a more reasonable Spanish Kingdom government.

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

The newly established Royal Senate instantly became a massive institution with hundreds of senators and became the only existing parliamentary body in Spain.

Immediately thereafter, Carlos convened a meeting of the Royal Senate to hold a public vote on whether to restore the House of Representatives and hold new elections for representatives.

In the end, the Senate voted in favor of restoring the House of Representatives, which put the reorganization of the Spanish Parliament on the agenda.

On November 19, 1875, Carlos announced the reorganization of the Spanish House of Representatives and that elections for members of the Spanish House of Representatives would be held between December and January.

Unlike the previous House of Representatives, the reorganized House would have a total of 298 seats, which would be allocated proportionally to Spain's major regions and colonies.

Taking the Spanish capital, Madrid, as an example, Madrid currently has a population of over 500, 00 and will receive 8 seats in the House of Representatives.

These eight seats will be publicly elected in the Madrid Assembly, and members of the Madrid Assembly are eligible to nominate other candidates or run for office themselves.

The eight people with the highest number of votes will win the seats in the House of Representatives for a three-year term. If any vacancy occurs during this period, the regional assembly where the vacancy occurred will hold a new election to fill it.

Increasing the seats in the House of Representatives and having them all elected by the assemblies of the major regions and colonies can avoid the possibility of a single political party controlling the seats of the House of Representatives on a large scale.

A political party that can still occupy the majority of seats in the House of Representatives under such rules can, to a certain extent, prove that it is deeply supported and trusted by the public.

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

First, regarding political parties in Spain.

To establish a legal political party in Spain, one must report to the Royal Senate for review and voting, and it can only be considered a legal political party after obtaining at least 50% of the votes.

Conversely, it is an illegal political party, not allowed to engage in any political activities, nor are members of illegal parties allowed to participate in elections or other activities.

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

This ensures to a great extent that Spain will not give birth to large parties like the Republican Party that interfere with Spanish parliamentary and government elections.

As long as Carlos does not wish it, any party established in the future will be considered illegal. Illegal parties cannot receive any support from the government and cannot participate in any political activities; their chances of expansion are extremely slim.

Currently, the Spanish Royal Senate has announced only three legal political parties: the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party.

These three parties were the original top three parties in Spain and have a significant gap compared to other parties, so it is naturally impossible for Carlos 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 election have also undergone certain modifications.

Although in theory the cabinet government is formed by the Prime Minister or the ruling party, there are a few individual positions in the current Spanish cabinet government that are not appointed by the Prime Minister, but are appointed by Carlos as King and elected by the Royal Senate.

The cabinet positions directly appointed by Carlos are the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Royal Affairs.

The official title of the Deputy Prime Minister in Spain is Minister of State, meaning a cabinet minister who assists the Prime Minister in handling state affairs. The Deputy Prime Minister will act as Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is unable to handle government affairs, so it is quite critical.

As the name suggests, the Minister of Royal Affairs is the cabinet minister who helps the government handle affairs connected to the Royal Family. Because it requires a sufficient understanding of Royal Family affairs, this position is also directly appointed by Carlos.

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.

As one of the most important positions in the cabinet, the Minister of Defense was also listed separately by Carlos. Of course, the Minister of Defense is not directly appointed by Carlos, nor is he elected by the Senate, but is appointed by a vote within the Spanish National Defense Committee.

The personnel composing the Spanish National Defense Committee are: the King of Spain, the incumbent Prime Minister of Spain, the incumbent Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Army, the incumbent Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Navy, the incumbent Chief of General Staff of the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the incumbent Commander of the Royal Guard, and the incumbent Minister of Defense, totaling seven people.

The Spanish National Defense Committee, composed of these seven people, votes to elect the new Minister of Defense of Spain at each cabinet government changeover, avoiding the situation where the Minister of Defense could be completely controlled by the Prime Minister.

For Carlos, such a regulation is obviously beneficial to him. As the Grand Marshal of the Spanish Army and Navy, it is quite normal for the King of Spain to be a member of the National Defense Committee.

Most of the remaining members of the National Defense Committee are also high-ranking military officials, especially the incumbent Commander of the Royal Guard, who is completely under Carlos's command.

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

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

The nine departments of Finance, Industry, Agriculture, Livelihood, Transportation, Public Security, Health, Education, and Foreign Affairs are still controlled by the Prime Minister, plus the Prime Minister himself, that makes ten cabinet seats.

And the positions not controlled by the Prime Minister—Minister of State, Minister of Justice, Minister of Royal Affairs, Minister of Colonial Affairs, and Minister of Defense—add up to only five seats.

But as long as he holds the most important military power in his own hands, no matter how the candidates for Spanish Prime Minister change in the future, Carlos does not have to worry about similar crises happening again.

Of course, it is impossible for Spain to give birth to a power-holder like Prime Minister Primo in the future. Prime Minister Primo's monopoly on power was quite special because he not only controlled the government but also controlled the Spanish army.

It is precisely because of this that Carlos separated the Minister of Defense from the Prime Minister's appointments and handed it over to the National Defense Committee to elect.

Among the six seats on the National Defense Committee, Carlos himself has one seat, and the Commander of the Royal Guard is another.

Among the remaining four positions—the Army and Navy Commanders, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of General Staff—as long as he wins over any two, Carlos can control the candidate for Spanish Minister of Defense.

By controlling the candidate for Minister of Defense, he can exert his influence on the army without scruples. Coupled with the cooperation of the Royal Guard, Carlos, who controls the army, will completely control the entire Spain and let Spain move in the direction he points.

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

Continuing to operate with the current cabinet government is the most appropriate choice; after all, Carlos has a high say in the current Spanish cabinet government, and blind changes would be counterproductive.

The current Spanish cabinet positions are as follows:

Grand Duke Serrano serves as the Chief Minister of Spain and concurrently as Minister of Defense, nominally the person with the highest status and greatest power in the current Spanish government.

Count Canovas serves as Minister of State and concurrently as Minister of Industry, a high-ranking official who, like Grand Duke Serrano, holds two cabinet seats.

Unlike Grand Duke Serrano, although Grand Duke Serrano is nominally the Prime Minister, he is actually mainly responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of Defense.

And although Canovas is only the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, he has actually begun to bear the burden of Spain's entire economic development.

After all, Carlos has said before that Grand Duke Serrano has enough status and influence, but is not very good at economic development.

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

Carlos intends to let Menotti serve as the Minister of Royal Affairs. It can be seen from the exploration of Africa that Menotti is loyal and has certain abilities, and Carlos does not mind reusing him.

The Minister of Finance is still served by Ewald Bartel. Ewald is a confidant of Prime Minister Primo, and he is indeed very capable in managing finance.

Since the cabinet has not been elected, there is naturally no need to replace a quite capable Minister of Finance.

The Minister of Agriculture is served by Jovellanos Soler. As a member of the Conservative Party, Jovellanos Soler has gained Carlos's initial trust and has also been reused to a certain extent.

The Minister of Livelihood is served by Carrell Daniels. Carrell is also a member of the Progressive Party, but unlike the quite radical Ruiz, Carrell is clearly inclined to be conservative.

He did not have any great achievements during his tenure as Minister of Livelihood, but he did not make any mistakes either; his political performance can only be described as mediocre.

The Minister of Transportation was originally served by Ruiz. But Ruiz, who was elected as acting Prime Minister by the Parliament, performed extremely poorly during the workers' parade. While dissolving the Parliament, Carlos also dismissed the then Spanish cabinet.

Ruiz, who only served as acting Prime Minister for one day, was honorably unemployed and was arrested by the Spanish army for crimes endangering the state.

Carlos did not have much affection for such a radical reformer. If this guy were allowed to take power, I am afraid that Spain would become a republic before long.

But the lessons of history are enough. Spain did indeed become a republic during this period, but after the republic, it did not mean that the internal struggles in Spain ended; on the contrary, the republic, which had been maintained for several years, collapsed due to the struggles between various political parties and forces.

Looking at this period of republican history in Spain from a God's-eye view, it started quite hastily and ended quite badly.

Radical reformers like Ruiz did not see the situation in Spain clearly. The current Spain does not need a republic; on the contrary, only as a monarchy can it maintain the country's unity and stability.

The seat of Minister of Transportation is currently vacant, but Carlos intends to promote Icarus Montoya, the Deputy Minister of the Transportation Department.

Icarus's performance in the Transportation Department is quite good, and can even be considered excellent. If Icarus had not blocked some of Ruiz's more radical decisions, perhaps the Transportation Department's results this year would have been even worse.

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

The Minister of Public Security is served by Garcia Herrera. Garcia is a rare non-partisan person in the Spanish cabinet government, but he is also a member of the Spanish nobility, and theoretically, he is also more inclined toward the Conservative Party.

Carlos is very unfamiliar with the name of the Minister of Health, which may also be related to Spain's relatively poor medical environment.

After all, the medical level in this era is indeed very poor. Carlos mainly focuses on drug and biological research in terms of medical care, and does not pay much attention to the medical department.

The current Minister of Health is Javier Jacobson, a person with a relatively high reputation in biology and medicine.

The Minister of Education continues to be served by Gerald Wilson. Gerald Wilson's achievements in Spanish literacy education are quite good, and Carlos also intends to further reuse him.

Anyway, Spanish cabinet ministers have no term limits; as long as they have enough ability, it is not an exaggeration to have a term of 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 holds the title of Marquis. Carlos is no stranger to the Marquis of Everton, because the Marquis of Everton was not only the first Spanish noble to express goodwill to Carlos, but also one of the first Spanish nobles to join the Royal Council.

(End of chapter)