Empire Rising: Spain

Starting from December 1875, the election atmosphere in various regions of Spain was exceptionally lively.

Because the election results of each regional assembly determined the candidates for regional representatives, the election competition in each region was very intense.

For the current three major political parties in Spain, this election was quite important. Only by securing more than 60% of the seats in the Lower House could the three major parties form a government with their own strength and appoint the Prime Minister.

If they failed to win more than 60% of the seats in the Lower House, the three major parties would have to consider cooperating with other parties to form a coalition government.

During the rule of Prime Minister Prim, the Lower House of Spain was dominated by the Progressive Party. Out of a total of 208 seats in the Lower House, the Progressive Party held over 51% of the seats, with as many as 106 seats.

Next was the Conservative Party, occupying 25% of the total seats in the Lower House, with 52 seats. The Liberal Party had the fewest seats among the three major parties, but still accounted for over 20%, holding 42 seats.

The control of the three major parties over the seats in the Lower House was evident. Besides the three major parties, among the 208 seats in the Lower House, only 8 belonged to other parties and independents not affiliated with the three major parties.

The significant disparity was largely due to the results of the revolution at that time.

The revolution promoted a constitutional government in Spain, establishing a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with the parliament as its main body.

In order to promote reforms, Prime Minister Prim also had to strengthen control over the government and parliament. This led to a House of Commons with a large number of Progressive Party and Liberal Party members, with the Conservative Party trailing behind, possessing seats comparable to the newly established Liberal Party.

But according to the actual situation in Spain, the number of members in the Conservative Party and among independents was more.

As the largest influential class in Spain, the majority of the nobility were either members of the Conservative Party or independents leaning towards conservatism.

This also indicated that the proportion of the Conservative Party and independents in the new Lower House of Spain would see an increase, thus widening the gap with the Liberal Party.

In Carlo’s own estimation, the proportions of the Progressive Party and the Conservative Party should both be around 30%, which would mean about 100 seats each.

While the proportion of the Liberal Party should be around 10%, having 30 seats would be quite good.

The number of independent MPs might exceed that of the Liberals, accounting for about 20% of the seats in the Lower House, with approximately 58 seats.

Although the support for the three major parties varied across the regions, such proportions were a reasonable estimate of the overall political environment in Spain.

After all, Prime Minister Prim, who supported the Progressive Party, had already announced a withdrawal from politics. The current Prime Minister Duke Serrano and Deputy Prime Minister Earl Canovas were both members of the Conservative Party.

The reason Carlo believed the Liberal Party would occupy no more than 10% of the seats in the Lower House was that the current Spanish Liberal Party lacked a significant leader to command the overall situation.

The Progressive Party had Prime Minister Prim, the Conservative Party had Duke Serrano and Earl Canovas.

The Liberal Party currently had no outstanding leaders, and the only member with some prestige in the government, Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, although a member of the Liberal Party, acted more like the Progressive Party, or rather the Progressive Liberals under Prime Minister Prim’s rule.

Mateo was also quite famous in Spanish history. He had formed a government seven times and was a well-matched rival with Canovas.

Particularly from 1884 to 1897, during almost 13 years, the position of Prime Minister of Spain alternated between Canovas and Mateo, achieving Mateo’s pursuit of establishing a limited monarchy, where the King and Parliament shared power to ensure political stability and the pursuit of peace.

During the time they exchanged governance, it was also a stable period for Spain’s development.

Unfortunately, both Canovas and Mateo died around the turn of the 20th century. Canovas died in 1897, and Mateo in 1903.

After their deaths, the Spanish regime gradually descended into chaos, eventually leading to the birth of the Second Spanish Republic.

Carlo had quite an appreciation for Mateo. He was not extreme, instead supporting the establishment of a limited monarchy.

In this regard, Mateo’s attitude was consistent with that of Prime Minister Prim. Their ideal government was not completely controlled by Parliament but rather a shared power between the King and Parliament, with the government alternating among several parties, ensuring no single party or force controlled politics, and avoiding dictatorship in the Spanish Government.

It was for this reason that Carlo ultimately decided to allow the Liberal Party to continue to exist and hoped Mateo could lead the Liberal Party to become truly one of the three major parties in Spain alongside the Conservative and Progressive Parties, not relying merely on support for reforms to gain its status as the third major party.

The elections in various regions of Spain were in full swing, and in the government buildings at the very center of power in Spain, a prolonged cabinet meeting was also taking place.

This cabinet meeting was convened at the request of Prime Minister Duke Serrano, and Carlo, as the King of Spain, also attended this meeting.

Unlike during Prime Minister Prim’s administration, Carlo at that time only had the power to listen to the content of meetings, without any authority to issue orders to the cabinet government and cabinet ministers.