Chapter 466: 1907 Summary

Tanks already had first-generation products, and second-generation tanks were expected to be officially equipped by the Spanish Army in the new year; these represented the continuous expansion of Spain's sea, land, and air forces, and the overall military strength was constantly increasing.

Carlo was quite satisfied with the achievements made by the Spanish government in 1907, and he also tacitly approved of several ministers in the cabinet government continuing their re-election in the 1907 cabinet elections.

Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo, who was deeply trusted by Carlo, would begin his third term as Prime Minister. This also allowed him to successfully tie Prime Minister Cánovas, becoming the second Prime Minister under Carlo's rule to serve three consecutive terms.

The Spanish government under Carlo's rule was quite stable; with few exceptions, most Prime Ministers could safely complete their full terms.

But wanting to be re-elected was not that easy; after all, besides having sufficient loyalty and ability, one's political achievements during the term must also be recognized by Carlo and the public.

Like Prime Minister Orcajo, Count Menotti also successfully won re-election to the position of Minister of State. If not for his non-Spanish origin, perhaps the Prime Minister of the next cabinet government would have been within Count Menotti's grasp.

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

His younger brother, Giotti, even won re-election for a third term to the important position of Minister of Defense. The Garibaldi family's status in Spain was already pivotal; a Count still serving as a high official in the government and a retired military Duke—such a family, even looking at the entire Spanish aristocratic system, was absolutely one of the best.

After Minister of Defense Giotti retired, the new Minister of Defense was assumed by Andrew Rosso. Andrew's name naturally needs no mention; like Carman, he came from Italy and was one of the earliest meritorious officials to follow Carlo.

Carlo trusted Andrew and Carman very much; one served as Minister of Defense and the other as Deputy Commander of the Army, both being 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 in the cabinet government, and those who held these two positions had a relatively high probability of running for Prime Minister.

Former Prime Minister Cánovas, former Minister of State Jovellanos Soler, and current Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo, among other important high-ranking government officials, had all served as Minister of Industry or Minister of Finance; the importance of these two positions is evident.

Given the background of current Minister of State Count Menotti being a non-Spaniard, the candidate for the next cabinet Prime Minister would most likely be chosen from Ol Acosta and Roger Wills.

Both of these men were Spaniards of pure blood, and 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 emerging party, the Workers' Socialist Party, and was likewise placed with high hopes by the Workers' Socialist Party.

These two could be considered the most promising candidates for the next cabinet Prime Minister, and the current Spain was also in urgent need of a non-Conservative Party Prime Minister to prove that the government was not entirely controlled by the Conservative Party.

Since Carlo became the King of Spain in 1869, Spain had experienced five Prime Ministers to date. Except for the first Prime Minister, Primo, who came from the Progressive Party, the other Prime Ministers were either like Grand Duke Serrano and Evan Bradley, who were non-partisan due to their military background, or like Cánovas and Angelo Orcajo, who were effectively members of the Conservative Party due to their status as old aristocrats.

The two Conservative Prime Ministers would likely hold six cabinet terms, which was 30 years of time. Meanwhile, the terms of other non-Conservative Prime Ministers added up to only a little over 10 years, which was the reason for the Spanish Conservative Party's dominance.

Carlo did not wish for the Conservative Party to remain dominant. Furthermore, there were limits on the re-election terms for Spanish Prime Ministers; any Prime Minister, after serving three consecutive terms, must temporarily withdraw from the election for Prime Minister, which was also to avoid power being held exclusively by one person and to reduce the occurrence of Prime Ministerial dictatorship.

If a Prime Minister held absolute power, the royal authority would certainly be infinitely hollowed out. This was bad news for the royal family, because the fate of the royal family would be directly in the hands of the Prime Minister.

Carlo could accept that future Kings of Spain might lose some power, but he could not accept the Spanish royal family being overthrown by a Prime Ministerial dictatorship.

The best choice was to avoid the Prime Minister holding absolute power; even if the royal authority were to be overthrown, it must be the choice of the people, not the choice of a government dictator.

Besides 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 successfully won re-election as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of Foreign Affairs William also came from the Spanish aristocratic 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 successfully served three consecutive terms, he still had a certain probability of being able to run for Prime Minister.

There was no help for it; besides William, the Conservative Party had no other good candidates to run for Prime Minister.

Carlo had long understood that Spain's development required the joint participation of multiple parties, and the Conservative Party's dominance was not good news for Spain.

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

Especially the moderately reformist Progressive Party and the newly emerging Workers' Socialist Party had achieved tremendous development during this period, which also effectively improved the current landscape of the Spanish cabinet government.

Currently, among the 298 seats in the Spanish House of Representatives, the once-dominant Conservative Party only had 126 seats left, accounting for 42. %, which was far less than the share of seats during the Conservative Party's glorious period.

After the merger of the Workers' Party and the Liberal Party, the Workers' Socialist Party had gradually developed into Spain's second-largest party. Currently, the Workers' Socialist Party held as many as 72 seats in the House of Representatives, accounting for 24. %, 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 Progressive Party also held 65 seats in the House of Representatives, accounting for 21. %, and was the last large party in Spain.

The remaining 35 seats were divided among other small parties and non-partisan individuals; from this, one could also see the current political landscape of Spain, which had re-formed into a situation where three major parties stood in a tripod formation, and the survival space of small parties and non-partisan individuals was further encroached upon.

Gradually forming a three-party system was something Carlo wanted to promote. The tripod formation of a three-party system was a better survival environment than a two-party system and was also more 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 tripod landscape, the previously ignored royal authority became important. Just like the current situation in Spain, even if the Conservative Party was dominant, as long as there was the support of royal authority, other parties could still stabilize their own survival space under the shadow of the Conservative Party, and even gradually encroach upon the Conservative Party's parliamentary seats.

If there were no support from royal authority, it would be impossible for the Progressive Party and the Workers' Socialist Party to have such a large number of parliamentary seats.

This was also one of Carlo's trump cards for checking and balancing the Prime Minister. Once a future Spanish Prime Minister stood in opposition to royal authority, the King of Spain could then use the three-party system to win over the other two opposition parties, condensing them into a force that did not belong to the ruling party, to confront the Spanish Prime Minister who stood in opposition to royal authority.