Chapter 165 The Election Begins

On June 10, 1903, after a lapse of three years, the election of the Australian cabinet government began again.

Compared with the last election, this cabinet election was much more formal.

Because the political parties have gradually become formalized and have attracted some members of the House of Commons and ordinary people to join, this cabinet government election also allows each party to recommend one candidate to join the cabinet election.

This also provides parties without members of the House of Commons with the opportunity to join this election. Although there is only one place, it is also a luxury.

It is precisely because of this policy that this election includes a total of 198 members of the House of Commons, candidates recommended by seven political parties, and 11 members of the current cabinet and Arthur.

Except for Arthur who is only the supervisor and witness of this election and does not participate in the election and voting, everyone else is a participant in this election.

This also means that the difficulty of this election has increased a lot to a certain extent. In addition to the experience advantage of the previous cabinet ministers, some members who already have a party background also have the opportunity to become members of the new cabinet.

In the huge conference room of the government building, the originally huge conference room was already full of members who came to attend the government meeting. More than 200 people filled the large conference room, and the air and atmosphere became much hotter.

Because the election of members of the House of Commons is held every two years, there are many unfamiliar faces in the conference room. More than 200 people have tacitly divided into large and small groups. The groups communicate with each other and occasionally peek at the movements of others next to them.

There are not many groups that can really form a scale. In addition to the original cabinet members and the four parties with members of the House of Commons, other small groups are mostly private relationships between members. Such groups are also small in size, mostly with only two or three people.

When the chatter in the conference room reached a fever pitch, Arthur also led Butler Hunter to the scene.

After seeing Arthur's arrival, everyone in the conference room kept quiet tacitly, making the originally noisy conference room quiet instantly.

"Your Highness!"

Everyone stood up and saluted.

Arthur smiled and nodded, motioned everyone to sit down, and then took Butler Hunter to the podium in the center of the conference room.

"Everyone, you are all elected by Australians to represent the interests of the people, or representatives of local political parties in Australia. I am very happy to see all of you here today, a very important day for the Australian people and the Australian government." Arthur said with a smile.

"The last cabinet government election was three years ago today. It was because of that election that our Australian government elected eleven of the best cabinet members. I believe that their achievements need not be said much, and their contributions to Australia are indelible."

"Today, we have come to such an important day again, and we are about to elect Australia's second cabinet government. I hope that no matter who goes to that glorious position, they can be loyal to the country, respect the royal family, and love the people as their responsibility, and push our beloved motherland Australia to prosperity and greatness!"

As soon as Arthur's voice fell, the huge conference room was immediately filled with long-lasting applause.

After waiting for about several minutes, the applause gradually weakened at Arthur's signal.

Arthur continued, "I believe that before arriving at the meeting room, all of you should have thought about whether to run for the election. The election rules this time are different from the last time. Each candidate can choose up to two positions within their capabilities and become a formal candidate for the position. But the position of prime minister is an exception. Any candidate for the prime minister cannot participate in the election of other positions."

"Okay, no more nonsense. Australia's second cabinet election officially begins." Arthur said with a smile, and at the same time signaled Butler Hunter to come on stage to preside over it.

In the current Australian government and royal family, in addition to Arthur, only Prime Minister Evan and Butler Hunter have enough status to preside over this meeting.

But Prime Minister Evan was the prime minister of the previous cabinet government and a candidate for this cabinet election. His status is obviously not suitable for presiding over this meeting, and the only remaining suitable candidate for presiding over it is Butler Hunter.

As the chief butler of the royal family, Butler Hunter also represents the royal family to the outside world. It is understandable to let him preside over this meeting. After all, the royal family is still a relatively neutral party in this election.

Butler Hunter nodded solemnly, and stood on the podium after Arthur returned to his seat.

"Everyone, in accordance with the order of His Royal Highness the Duke, the second Australian cabinet election officially begins. A guard will soon distribute a candidacy form to each of you, and you can fill in the position you want to run for. As His Royal Highness the Duke said, you can run for a maximum of two ministerial positions. If you have already run for the position of Prime Minister, you cannot participate in the election of other positions." Butler Hunter introduced the rules.

"If everyone has no questions about the rules, then the formal election can begin." Butler Hunter looked around and found that no one had any questions about the rules, so he nodded and signaled the guard to issue the form.

Such a form is actually very simple. All you need to fill in is your full name, address, age, party (if any) and the two positions you want to run for.

But it was this form that confirmed that most people in the meeting room hesitated for a long time and could not decide which two positions to run for.

Among them, the ones who filled in the form more straightforwardly and without hesitation were actually the previous cabinet ministers and some members of the party who had already discussed it.

They all had specific goals for the positions they wanted to run for, and changing them easily would make them lose their advantages.

It took nearly an hour to fill in the form. Most people hurriedly filled it out and handed it in under the urging of Butler Hunter.

These people were obviously not well prepared. They were more of the weak members of the party and did not have an advantage in this election.

Nearly half of the members of the party did not fill in this form, which also meant that they gave up the opportunity to run for election.

Many of these people were also members of the party without political parties and experience. They had a clear understanding of their own situation and knew that they would basically not succeed even if they ran for election, so they gave up this opportunity very tactfully.

First update, please support!