Chapter 466: 1907 Summary

1907 was a quite important year for Spain. In this year, Spain announced the army expansion plan, the air force formed paratrooper troops, and the construction of Dreadnoughts was also proceeding in an orderly manner.

Tanks already had first-generation products, and the second-generation tanks were expected to have hope of being formally equipped to the Spanish army in the new year; these represented that Spain's army, navy, and air force were all constantly expanding, and the overall military strength was constantly increasing.

Gao Da was quite satisfied with the achievements made by the Spanish government in 1907, and also tacitly allowed several ministers of the cabinet government to continue their re-election in the 1907 cabinet election.

Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo, who was deeply trusted by Gao Da, would start his third term as cabinet prime minister. This also made him successfully tie Prime Minister Cánovas, becoming the second cabinet prime minister under Gao Da's rule to be able to serve three consecutive terms.

The Spanish government under Gao Da's rule was quite stable; apart from a few exceptions, most cabinet prime ministers could safely pass their complete terms.

But wanting to be re-elected was not that easy; after all, apart from having sufficient loyalty and ability, the political achievements during the term must also be recognized by Gao Da and the public.

Like Prime Minister Orcajo, Count Menotti also successfully was re-elected to the position of Minister of State. If it were not for his non-Spanish origin, perhaps the prime minister of the next cabinet government would be in Count Menotti's pocket.

Of course, being able to walk to the high position of Minister of State step by step by relying on a non-Spanish origin, Count Menotti's ability and loyalty to Gao Da had already been highly recognized.

His younger brother Qiao Di was even re-elected to the important position of Minister of Defense for three terms; the status of the Garibaldi family in Spain had already become pivotal—a count still serving as a high official in the government and a duke who had already retired from the military; such a family, even looking at the entire Spanish noble system, was absolutely one of the best.

After Minister of Defense Qiao Di retired, the new Minister of Defense was served by Andrew Luo Suo. Andrew's name naturally did not need to be mentioned; he, like Kaman, came from Italy and was one of the meritorious officials who followed Gao Da the earliest.

Gao Da trusted Andrew and Kaman very much; one served as Minister of Defense, and the other served as Deputy Commander of the Army—both were high-level military officials in the true sense.

Minister of Finance Ol Acosta and Minister of Industry Roger Wills successfully won re-election. These two positions were relatively important positions in the cabinet government, and those who served in these two positions had a relatively high probability of running for prime minister.

Former Prime Minister Cánovas, former Minister of State Hovillar Soler, current Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo, and other important high-level government officials had all served in the positions of Minister of Industry or Minister of Finance; the importance of these two positions could be seen.

In the situation where current Minister of State Count Menotti had a non-Spanish origin background, the candidate for the next cabinet government prime minister would most likely be chosen from Ol Acosta and Roger Wills.

Both of them were pure-blooded Spaniards; the former came from the Progressive Party and was regarded by many Progressive Party members as the hope for the party's revival.

The latter came from Spain's newly rising party, the Workers' Socialist Party, and was also pinned with high hopes by the Workers' Socialist Party.

These two were the most hopeful candidates for the next cabinet prime minister; the current Spain also urgently needed a non-Conservative Party prime minister to prove that the government was not completely controlled by the Conservative Party.

Since Gao Da became the King of Spain in 1869, Spain had experienced five cabinet prime ministers so far. Apart from the first cabinet prime minister, Primo, who came from the Progressive Party, the other cabinet prime ministers were either like Grand Duke Serrano and Evan Bradley, who were non-party individuals because of their military background, or like Cánovas and Angelo Orcajo, who were Conservative Party members because of their status as old nobles.

Two Conservative Party prime ministers would most likely hold six cabinet government terms, which was 30 years. And the terms of other non-Conservative Party prime ministers added together were only a little over 10 years; this was also the reason why the Spanish Conservative Party was the only one in power.

Gao Da did not hope for the Conservative Party to be the only one in power; plus, the re-election term of the Spanish cabinet prime minister was limited. Any prime minister, after being re-elected for three terms, must temporarily withdraw from the cabinet prime minister election; this was also to avoid power always being held by one person, reducing the occurrence of prime ministerial dictatorship.

If the prime minister held all power, the royal power would certainly be infinitely hollowed out. This was bad news for the royal family, because the fate of the royal family would be directly held in the hands of the prime minister.

Gao Da could accept that the future King of Spain would lose part of his power, but he could not accept that the Spanish royal family would be overthrown by a prime ministerial dictatorship.

The best choice was to avoid the prime minister holding all power; even if the royal power was overthrown, it must be the public's choice, not the choice of a government dictator.

Apart from some re-elected cabinet ministers, the new cabinet still had many new faces. The Conservative Party also had a candidate for the next cabinet prime minister, and that was William, who was successfully re-elected as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of Foreign Affairs William also came from the Spanish noble system and was a member recognized by the Conservative Party.

Although the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not have that much say in the cabinet government, considering that William was also a cabinet minister who was successfully re-elected for three terms, he still had a certain probability of being able to run for cabinet prime minister.

There was no help for it; apart from William, the Conservative Party did not have any better candidates to run for cabinet prime minister.

Gao Da had long known that Spain's development needed the participation of multiple parties; the Conservative Party being the only one in power was not good news for Spain.

It was precisely because of this that whether it was the Spanish cabinet or the governors of various states and other important positions, members of other non-Conservative parties had frequently emerged in recent years.

Especially the Progressive Party of moderate reform and the newly rising Workers' Socialist Party had obtained huge development during this period, and also effectively improved the current pattern of the Spanish cabinet government.

Among the 298 parliamentary seats in the current Spanish House of Representatives, the Conservative Party, which was once the only one in power, only had 126 parliamentary seats left, accounting for 42.2%, which was far less than the proportion of seats in the Conservative Party's once glorious period.

The Workers' Socialist Party, after the merger of the Workers' Party and the Liberal Party, had gradually developed into Spain's second-largest party. The number of seats the Workers' Socialist Party currently possessed in the House of Representatives reached as high as 72, accounting for 24.2%, which was already a political force that other parties could not ignore.

The Progressive Party had fallen to become Spain's third-largest party, but its actual influence was not much weaker than that of the Workers' Socialist Party. The number of seats the Progressive Party possessed in the House of Representatives was also 65, accounting for 21.8%, and it was Spain's last large party.

The remaining 35 seats were carved up by other small parties and non-party individuals; from this aspect, one could also see the current political pattern of Spain, which had re-formed a situation of three parties standing in three legs, and the survival status of small parties and non-party individuals was further eroded.

Gradually forming a three-party system was what Gao Da wanted to promote. The three-legged stance of the three-party system was a better survival environment than the two-party system, and it was also relatively suitable for Spain's current development trend.

The ruling party would not be excessively dominant, because there were two opposition parties, and they would not attack the ruling party without considering right or wrong.

Under the pattern of three legs standing, the royal power that was originally ignored became important. Just like the current situation in Spain, even if the Conservative Party was the only one in power, as long as there was the support of the royal power, other parties could still stabilize their own survival space under the shadow of the Conservative Party, and even gradually erode the Conservative Party's parliamentary seats.

If there was no support from the royal power, the Progressive Party and the Workers' Socialist Party could not possibly possess so many parliamentary seats.

This was also one of Gao Da's trump cards to check and balance the prime minister. Once the future Spanish prime minister stood on the opposite side of the royal power, at that time, the King of Spain could also use the three-party system to win over the other two opposition parties, condensing into a force that did not belong to the ruling party, to confront the Spanish prime minister who stood on the opposite side of the royal power. ===== CHAPTER 467 =====