Chapter 339: Chapter 195: Reestablishing Parliament and Institutional Reform
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the nobles and officials involved in the rebellion total only about a hundred people; the actual number of people affected far exceeds this number, reaching into the thousands.
If you include the armed forces that were eliminated in the rebellion, the actual number of participants is even greater. After being tried, these individuals will all be sent to the South Morocco Colony and the Congo Territory in Africa for colonial development work.
They will join the local Moroccans and Congolese, becoming part of Spain’s ordinary plantations. To ensure these people do not unite again to cause trouble, these thousands will be dispersed across Southern Morocco and Congo and closely monitored.
Some parts of Southern Morocco are desolate deserts, and the Congo Territory beyond the colonial outposts is equally remote within the African interior.
Even if they successfully evade Spain’s supervision in such places, they are highly likely to perish in the wild.
This is no joke. Well-equipped and numerous colonial exploration teams face life-threatening crises if they are not careful, let alone criminals who might luckily escape from plantations and other guarded areas.
Unless they can find enough food, weapons, and medicine, fleeing on the African Continent is a living torture worse than death.
Carlo did not pay too much attention to the fate of these treasonous nobles and officials; instead, he was considering whether to reorganize the Spanish Parliament.
Although Carlo dissolved the parliament based on the poor performance of the parliament and the unconstitutional election of the Prime Minister, the Spanish Parliament has now developed enough influence.
Unless those political parties can be further dissolved, the parliament will eventually need to be reorganized.
Carlo does not intend to establish an authoritarian government, and the reasonable use of the parliament is very beneficial.
However, the current power of the Spanish Parliament is too immense and must be restricted to a certain extent, and the Spanish Parliament must be reorganized, and the constitution must be amended to form a more reasonable Government of the Kingdom of Spain.
On November 17, 1875, Carlo convened the Spanish Senate meeting and announced the decision to merge the Royal Council and the Senate to establish the Royal Senate.
The newly formed Royal Senate instantly became a large body with over a hundred senators, becoming the only parliamentary institution currently in Spain.
Immediately afterward, Carlo convened a Royal Senate meeting for a public vote to discuss whether to restore the House of Representatives and re-elect its members.
The final vote in the Senate was in favor of restoring the House of Representatives, bringing the reorganization of the Spanish Parliament onto the agenda.
On November 19, 1875, Carlo announced the reorganization of the Spanish House of Representatives, with elections for its members to be held between December and January.
Unlike the previous House of Representatives, the newly reorganized House will have a full 298 seats to be proportionately distributed among Spain’s various regions and colonies.
Take Spain’s capital, Madrid, for example; with a population of over 500,000, Madrid will receive eight seats in the House of Representatives.
These eight seats will be elected openly in the Madrid Parliament, where members have the right to nominate other candidates or run for election.
The eight individuals with the highest number of votes will gain seats in the House of Representatives for a three-year term. Should any incident occur rendering one unable to fulfill their position as representative, a re-election in the district parliament will fill the vacancy.
With the increase in seats in the House of Representatives and all being elected by the various district and colonial parliaments, it can prevent any political party from vastly controlling the seats in the House.
Under such rules, any party that can still occupy a majority of seats in the House of Representatives can demonstrate a level of popular support and trust to a degree.
Together with the modification of the House of Representatives seats, Spain’s laws regarding political parties and Cabinet Government elections have also been amended.
Firstly, concerning Spain’s political parties.
In Spain, to establish a legitimate political party, one must report to the Royal Senate for review and voting, and only after gaining at least 50% approval can it be considered a legitimate party.
Conversely, it is considered an illegal party, prohibited from engaging in any political activities, and its members cannot participate in representative elections or similar events.
The majority of current senators in the Royal Senate are nobles who listen to Carlo’s commands. This means that, at present, Carlo can determine the legality of any party in Spain.
This greatly ensures that large parties like the Republican Party will not emerge, disrupting Spain’s parliamentary and government elections.
Unless Carlo wishes otherwise, any party established in the future will be deemed illegal. Illegal parties will receive no government support and cannot engage in political activities, making expansion opportunities extremely slim.
Currently, only three parties have been declared legitimate by the Spanish Royal Senate, namely the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party.
These three parties were originally the top three major parties in Spain, having a significant gap with other parties, so naturally, they cannot be unjustifiably declared illegal by Carlo.
Regarding elections for the Spanish Cabinet Government, conditions have been modified with the expansion of seats in the House of Representatives.
Though theoretically, the Cabinet Government is formed by a Prime Minister or ruling party, in the current Spanish Cabinet Government, several positions are not appointed by the Prime Minister but rather by Carlo as the King and elected by the Royal Senate.
