The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Chapter 164: The Election Begins

On June 10,1903, three years later, the election for the Australian Cabinet Government began again.

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

As the political parties have gradually become standardized and attracted some lower house members and ordinary people to join, this cabinet election has also allowed each party to recommend a candidate to join the cabinet election.

This also provided an opportunity for parties without lower house members to participate in this election, although there was only one quota, it was still a luxury.

Because of this policy, a total of 198 Lower House members, seven additional candidates recommended by political parties, and the 11 incumbent cabinet members and Arthur participated in this election.

Apart from Arthur, who was only the supervisor and witness of the election and did not participate in the election and voting, everyone else participated in the election.

This also meant that the difficulty of this election had increased to a certain extent, and apart from the experienced cabinet ministers, some members with political party backgrounds also had the opportunity to become members of the new cabinet.

In the huge meeting room of the Administrative Building, more than 200 people filled the large meeting room, making the air and atmosphere much hotter.

Due to the biennial election of lower house members, there were many unfamiliar faces in the meeting room, and the 200 people tacitly formed various groups, talking among themselves and occasionally peeking at the movements of others nearby.

There are not many groups that can truly form a scale at present, besides the original cabinet members and four parties with lower house members, the other small groups are mostly private relationships between members, and their scale is also very small, usually only two to three people.

As the conversation in the conference room reached a boiling point, Arthur arrived at the scene with Hunter Steward.

Upon seeing Arthur’s arrival, everyone in the meeting room tacitly maintained their silence, and the originally noisy meeting room quieted down instantly.

“Your Highness!”

Everyone stood up and saluted.

Arthur smiled and nodded, indicating for everyone to sit down, and then took Hunter Steward to the very center of the conference room.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are all representatives of the Australian people elected by the Australian people, or representatives of Australian native political parties. I am very happy to see all of your arrival on such an important day for the Australian people and the Australian government.” Arthur said with a smile.

“The last cabinet election was held three years ago today, and it was that election that brought us the 11 most outstanding cabinet members of the Australian government. I believe there is no need to mention their merits, their contributions to Australia are indelible.”

“Today, we have come to such an important day again, and we are about to elect the second cabinet government of Australia. I hope that whoever reaches that glorious position, will be loyal to the country, respect the royal family, and love the people as their own duty, and push our beloved country, Australia, to prosperity and greatness!”

As Arthur’s voice fell, the vast conference room was immediately filled with enduring applause.

After a few minutes, the applause gradually subsided at Arthur’s signal.

Arthur continued, “I believe that before you arrived at the meeting room, all of you should have thought about whether you would run for office or not. This year’s election rules are different from last time. Each candidate can choose up to two positions within their capabilities as their official candidate. However, the Prime Minister’s position is an exception, and any candidate for Prime Minister cannot join other positions.”

“Alright, let’s not waste any more time. The second Australian cabinet election has officially begun.” Arthur said with a smile, signaling Hunter Steward to take the stage.

In the current Australian government and royal family, besides Arthur, the only ones with the sufficient status to host this conference were Prime Minister Evan and Hunter Steward.

But Prime Minister Evan was the prime minister of the previous cabinet and is a candidate in this cabinet election. His identity was clearly not suitable for hosting the conference, and the only suitable person left was Hunter Steward.

As the royal steward, Hunter represents the royal family. His hosting of the conference was also justified, as after all, the royal family was a relatively neutral party in this election.

Hunter Steward nodded solemnly, and after Arthur returned to his seat, he took the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, following the orders of His Grace, the second Australian cabinet election has officially begun. Guards will soon distribute nomination forms to each of you. You can fill in the positions you want to run for. As His Grace said, you can run for up to two ministerial positions, and if you have already run for the prime minister’s position, you cannot participate in the election for other positions.” Hunter Steward introduced the rules.

“If everyone has no doubts about the rules, then the official election can begin.” Hunter Steward scanned the room and found that no one had any questions about the rules, so he nodded and signaled the guards to distribute the forms.

This form was actually quite simple, requiring only the filling of a full name, address, age, party (if any), and the two positions they wished to run for.

But it was this form that made most of the people in the conference room hesitate for a long time, unable to decide which two positions to run for.

Those who filled out the form without hesitation were mainly the previous cabinet ministers and some members who had negotiated within their party in advance.

They had specific goals in mind for the positions they wanted to run for, and changing them easily would cause them to lose their advantage.

It took nearly an hour to fill out the form, and most people hurriedly completed it and handed it in under the urging of Hunter Steward.

These people were clearly unprepared and had fewer resources as members and no advantage in this election.

Almost half of the members did not fill out the form, meaning they gave up the chance to run for office.

Many of these people were members without political parties and experience, and they had a clear understanding of their own situation, knowing that they would not succeed even if they did run for office, so they tactfully gave up this opportunity.