Chapter 202: House of Representatives Election and Education Achievements

After spending an unusual Christmas, time also came to January 1, 1876.

Gao Da's eldest son, Juan Fernando, was nearly seven months old at Christmas and could crawl around on Gao Da's big bed.

Gao Da also loved this little guy very much, spending the whole Christmas day playing with little Juan Fernando, fully fulfilling his duty as a father.

It is worth mentioning that the little guy also loved his father Gao Da very much. When Gao Da came to the bedside, the little guy immediately crawled to his father's side with his hands and feet, which made Queen Sofia, who had been taking care of the little guy for a long time, a little jealous.

After having an extra little guy, the Christmas atmosphere in the Wang Gong also became much livelier. In previous years, the Christmas activities prepared by the Wang Gong were also grand, but the royal family only had Gao Da and Queen Sofia, so it still looked too lonely and cold.

Every Christmas of the royal family in the future, the number of Spanish royal family members will definitely be more and more. At present, Queen Sofia's body has been adjusted, and Gao Da also intends to have a second child with Queen Sofia in the new year.

Anyway, the Spanish royal family has no trouble with funds, and naturally, the more princes and princesses, the better. Only when the number of royal family members is more and more can the royal family spread its branches and leaves, thereby avoiding the risk of facing extinction.

The good news is that Gao Da and Queen Sofia are still young, and there is plenty of time to give birth in the next ten years or so.

If lucky, Gao Da's number of children might be able to form a football team. Giving birth to more children in the royal family is also a model, which can encourage the public to have more children and promote the growth of Spain's population.

As time came to January 1876, the election of members of the House of Representatives in Spain's major regions also gradually came to an end.

The first to finish the election were the Ma Deli region and several regions with small populations. Regions with small populations naturally will not obtain too many seats in the House of Representatives, and the election of individual seats will naturally be very rapid.

Gao Da also obtained the election reports of these regions that had completed the election for the first time. There are 4 regions that have completed the election, namely the Ma Deli region, the Balearic region, the La Rioja region, and the Cantabria region.

Among the less than 30 seats in the House of Representatives owned by these 4 regions, the Progressive Party still occupies the majority, but the number can no longer form an overwhelming advantage over the Conservative Party.

The proportion of Progressive Party members is only about 40%, the proportion of Conservative Party members has increased to 30%, and there are only 2 Liberal Party members, accounting for less than 10% of all members in these four regions.

Although this is only the result of the election of members of parliament in four regions, it can also reflect the support situation of each political party in Spain at present to a certain extent.

Because the Progressive Party has the afterglow of Prime Minister Primo, it is still the largest political party in Spain for the time being. But after the Liberal Party lost the protection of Prime Minister Primo, it is no longer the top three political parties in Spain that are on par with the Conservative Party, and there is already a certain gap between it and the Progressive Party and the Conservative Party.

Although Gao Da is still very optimistic that Mateo can lead the Liberal Party to gradually grow, judging from the current political party situation in Spain, the road to leading the Liberal Party to become a powerful political party on par with the Conservative Party and the Progressive Party is destined to be full of difficulties.

After another half a month, finally at the end of January, all 298 seats of members of the Spanish House of Representatives were elected, and the new House of Representatives was officially convened on February 3, 1876.

The distribution of the 298 seats in the House of Representatives is not much different from what Gao Da estimated at the time. The Progressive Party is still the largest political party in Spain, occupying 37.6% of the proportion of the House of Representatives, with a total of 112 seats.

The Conservative Party has become the second largest political party in Spain, and has significantly narrowed the gap with the Progressive Party. The proportion of the Conservative Party is also as high as 33.2%, almost becoming the second political party in Spain with over 100 seats in the House of Representatives.

The Liberal Party performed poorly, occupying a total of 34 seats, accounting for 11.4% of the total seats in the House of Representatives.

Besides this, there are about 17.8% of members of parliament in the House of Representatives who belong to non-party individuals, and they occupy a total of 53 seats, which is more than the seats of the third largest party, the Liberal Party.

After the House of Representatives was reorganized, Gao Da personally attended the first meeting of the House of Representatives. Don't say, the large meeting of nearly 300 people is indeed more lively than the meeting of 200 people, and the venue has also been temporarily expanded to ensure that it can accommodate nearly 300 members of the House of Representatives.

After the House of Representatives was established, the next most important thing is to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The position of Speaker is still quite important. Externally, it is the symbol of the parliament where it is located, and internally, it possesses the power to preside over parliamentary meetings, rule on parliamentary proposals, and announce election voting results.

Because the Speaker of the parliament is also a member of parliament, the Speaker also possesses all the powers possessed by members of parliament.

The weekly routine meetings and emergency meetings held by the House of Representatives all need to be presided over by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Therefore, the first thing after the establishment of the House of Representatives is to elect the new Speaker of the House of Representatives by voting by all members.

From the distribution proportion of the seats in the House of Representatives, it can also be seen that the candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives will basically be born between the Progressive Party and the Conservative Party.

However, because the proportion of seats occupied by these two political parties in the House of Representatives does not exceed 50%, they also need to win over members of other political parties, or those non-party members of parliament, to ensure to a greater extent that their members become the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In the system of the upper and lower houses, Spain and England currently have certain similarities.

Although most cabinet ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister, this does not mean unconditional appointment. Even with the support of the Prime Minister, if you want to become a Spanish cabinet minister, you must first become a member of parliament in either of the two houses.

Only after becoming a member of parliament can you obtain the right to be nominated as a cabinet minister. Such a system can ensure that before becoming a cabinet minister, the election of the parliament can serve as the first round of screening tools.

Except for a very small number of examples, most of the guys who can become members of parliament in the upper and lower houses basically have certain abilities.

After several days of election competition, the House of Representatives finally elected a new Speaker candidate, Horn Fernandez, a member of the Progressive Party.

In fact, the competition between the Progressive Party and the Conservative Party regarding the Speaker is relatively deadlocked. But considering that the Conservative Party occupies the two major positions of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Gao Da fixed the candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Progressive Party.

Compared to the Conservative Party, the Progressive Party, which has been trained by Prime Minister Primo, is currently the most suitable ruling party choice for Spain. If it weren't for the fact that the second-in-command Ruiz was too radical, Gao Da would not necessarily have determined Canovas as the candidate to succeed Prime Minister Primo.

1876 is destined to be a busy year for Gao Da.

During the day, he has to attend various meetings of the government and important institutions, and at night, he has to work hard with Queen Sofia.

If it weren't for the fact that Gao Da has attached great importance to physical exercise since coming to Spain, I am afraid that he would definitely not be able to bear such fatigue day and night.

In his spare time, Gao Da also has to play with the two maids, Anna and Alice, and use his time to the extreme.

Under constant hard work, Queen Sofia soon brought good news.

Because of the experience brought by little Juan Fernando, Queen Sofia soon realized that she might be pregnant when the pregnancy reaction appeared again.

Although it is the second child, the importance Gao Da and Queen Sofia attach to this little guy in the belly is still not reduced.

From the moment the pregnancy was confirmed, the royal private doctor who accompanied her at all times, and the large number of maids and servants waiting on her at any time, were countless.

The total number of servants in the Spanish Wang Gong is only a hundred or so, and there are more than twenty people waiting on Queen Sofia.

Speaking of these servants in the Wang Gong, I have to mention the very strict selection and training process of servants in the Wang Gong.

Among these hundred or so servants, everyone has undergone background checks, and the infiltration of republican rebel elements was excluded from the beginning.

Besides this, Gao Da also looked for orphans from all over Spain to cultivate, and cultivated some of the orphans who were loyal enough but not capable enough in the direction of servants and maids.

Besides the relatively strict selection and training system, Gao Da is also quite generous regarding the salary and benefits of all servants in the Wang Gong.

The minimum income of servants in the Wang Gong exceeds Spain's per capita annual income, and the average income is far beyond Spain's per capita annual income.

Especially for servants who hold some relatively important positions, their income will be significantly improved, ensuring the loyalty of these servants to themselves.

Although Gao Da trusts these servants enough, the surveillance of these servants by the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau also exists.

After all, it is a matter of safety for himself and his family, so it is not too much to pay attention to it.

One morning in February, Minister of Education Gerald Wilson requested to see Gao Da and brought a piece of good news that made Gao Da quite happy, which is the latest achievement of Spain's literacy education.

"Your Majesty, the Education Department has counted the latest achievements of literacy education, and the data is completely in line with our expectations." Gerald Wilson smiled, and the first thing he did when he saw Gao Da was to report this good news to Gao Da.

Gao Da nodded, took the data on literacy education handed over by Gerald Wilson, and read it by himself.

The data shows that Spain's literacy education achievements last year, that is, 1875, were still quite good.

In 1874, the population participating in literacy education in Spain grew to an astonishing million. Although a large reason for this is that these people want to take advantage of the free lunch benefits provided by Gao Da, it is undeniable that these people who participated in literacy education effectively reduced the proportion of Spain's illiterate population.

At the beginning of 1875, Spain's illiterate population had already dropped to below 39%; this data was a great progress compared to the 70% or so since Gao Da was crowned.

And a year later, Spain's illiterate population ushered in a sharp decline again, and currently, the total illiterate population is less than 35%.

According to government data, as of the beginning of 1876, Spain's population is about 18.25 million. (Estimate)

Among them, the illiterate population has dropped to below 6.4 million, and a large part of this is those low-age children who cannot receive education and middle-aged and elderly people who are too old.

Besides these groups, the remaining illiterate population is mostly those family pillars who need to work continuously to earn income.

They really don't have any free time to participate in literacy education, and factories will not give them vacations, which is also the biggest difficulty faced by literacy education.

Fortunately, the modification of the Labor Law can ensure that Spain's vast number of workers and other staff members have more rest time. Although the improvement is not much, according to the government's estimate, workers can have half an hour to an hour more rest time on average every day compared to before.

If the 70% illiteracy rate a few years ago was too exaggerated, then the current illiteracy rate of less than 35% cannot be considered bad even if you look at the whole of Europe.

Although Great Powers like England, France, and Germany have lower illiteracy rates, they are already extremely developed Great Powers after all.

Europe still has large areas with a large number of illiterate and low-income populations, and the existence of these populations also lowers Europe's per capita education and income level.

Looking at the whole of Europe, Spain's per capita education and illiteracy rate are not bad, at least it can mix into the middle.

Especially compared with Russia, which is also a Great Power, Spain is not bad in education. Russia's population is mostly illiterate, and it is extremely difficult to popularize education.

Don't look at Russia's reform, but the reform was not completed thoroughly. Farmers are still at the bottom of Russia, let alone the right to receive education; they are not even valued for their most basic human rights.

Of course, a large population is also the reason for Russia's strength. The title of "European Bulldozer" is world-famous, which also makes Russia one of the five traditional Great Powers of Europe comparable to England, France, Germany, and Austria.

Further back, Great Powers like the United States and Italy still have a large gap with Russia. It is precisely because of this that even if Russia is very poor in per capita income and education, it is still a Great Power, and it is a Great Power without any controversy.

"The Ministry of Education is doing very well; you did not live up to Prime Minister Primo's expectations." Gao Da looked at Minister of Education Gerald Wilson with satisfaction, and was quite approving of this capable Minister of Education.

As early as more than a year ago, Gerald Wilson proposed a dual-track education model, advocating for ordinary education and technical education to go hand in hand, and at the same time cultivating high-education talents and high-technical talents lacking in Spain.

At present, dual-track education has begun to be implemented in Spain, and it is expected that there will be results in a short time. Especially the technical schools run by the Spanish government have recruited a large number of technical trainees.

After these trainees complete technical training, they will transform into high-level technical talents urgently needed by Spain.

And the Minister of Education Gerald Wilson, who proposed this system, had long been recognized and supported by Gao Da, and successfully re-elected as Minister of Education.

Hearing what Gao Da said, Gerald Wilson breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he gained Gao Da's trust by his ability, he was after all the Minister of Education appointed by Prime Minister Primo and belonged to the Progressive Party.

If Gao Da was dissatisfied with the way Prime Minister Primo monopolized power at the time and planned to completely cut off the existing Spanish government from Prime Minister Primo, then he still had a great possibility of saying goodbye to the Spanish cabinet government and ending his political career.

Looking at it now, Gao Da has no intention of completely cutting off from Prime Minister Primo. Gerald Wilson, as the minister who is in the same party as Prime Minister Primo, can still stay in the position of Minister of Education and exert his brilliance.

"All this is the credit of Your Majesty." Gerald Wilson flattered, and at the same time secretly expressed his attitude: "If it weren't for Your Majesty supporting the dual-track education system I proposed, the Ministry of Education would not have achieved such remarkable achievements.

If you have to say who is the greatest contributor to Spain's education development so far, I think it should be Your Majesty. The Ministry of Education still needs your guidance, and I will continue to contribute my remaining heat under your instructions to add bricks and tiles to Spain's education cause."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 203 =====