After spending days doing nothing, he finally reached a deal with Alex III. He would be given a powerful position but would have to follow the orders of Alex's kingdom.
Alex III thought of killing him but decided against it. For now, those who don't have a link only feel a bit of anxiety, but who knows if it gets worse? In any case, Alex prefers not to have that anxiety.
Everything would be fine As long as Rob doesn't leak that he is Alex's link. Alex III has warned him many times; there is little chance he will leak it.
And if he does, Alex III has enough influence on Five Star's side to deal with him.
...
The government placed everyone in the many vacant houses.
Of course, those houses used to have owners, but they have passed away. The search for the inheritors was deferred for later consideration.
Currently, the country cannot afford to let people stay outside when there are empty houses.
Of course, the right to private property is essential for any country, so the government passed another law ensuring that, when the situation stabilizes, the inheritors will be compensated.
As for why there is a shortage of houses ...
Even though many have passed away, there are still housing problems; it's simple: migration.
Many people moved away from their homes when the disaster happened, mostly from villages to bigger cities, some from one city to another, etc.
Presently, the infrastructure has been restored only in a few major cities. Those who moved to big cities from smaller cities and villages could not return to their homes.
Of course, they have no house in big cities.
So, until the infrastructure of those cities is restored, they will be permitted to stay in homes they don't own.
Rob played a crucial role in accomplishing all of this.
The central government only controls a relatively small part of the country.
However, Rob had a lot of power because of the Alex kingdom. He made sure that the autonomous regions would house the people and coordinated with them on repairing the infrastructure of smaller cities.
The following important decision was what to do with all the criminals.
There were two choices.
One is to arrest people, and the other is to pardon all.
After tense discussions, Five Star decided to pardon all.
Arresting all who committed crimes during this time would cause significant instability. Everyone, even those suspected of murder, was pardoned.
Very tough criminal laws accompanied it.
The death penalty had been abolished in Five Star, but the new law brought it back; anyone who murders would be quickly executed.
This decision was contentious, but Alex's kingdom insisted on it; it would have failed if it weren't for Alex III.
Other laws, such as forced work for thieves and castration for sexual assaulters, were also passed. Again, those were only passed because Alex's kingdom pushed for them.
The next big problem was the prevalence of guns everywhere.
It made the job of the security officers very difficult.
With the coordination of autonomous regions, they gave everyone a month to turn in the guns to the newly set up police force. If they fail to do so, they could be arrested and banned for life from owning firearms.
Gun ownership was not suspended; only illegal guns were targeted. If one had a legal weapon, they would still be allowed to keep it.
Of course, new applicants will be rejected for now, as there is no class for legal and practical training.
Next, the army and police.
The police in the autonomous area remained independent of the central government. As for the military, it was decided that the President would be the commander in chief; the Generals in the military stationed in the autonomous area would be appointed locally, with no influence from the central government.
The funding for the military is with the parliament and prime minister. Decentralized power has disadvantages, but they couldn't reach any better deals.
The next big issue was elections.
After negotiations, they came up with an election system everyone agreed to.
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First, the election for the President.
The President would be elected by majority, meaning 50%+1 of all people above 15. There will only be two nominees for the President, one from the central government territory and the other from the autonomous regions. Every presidential term is 6 years, and one can only serve two terms as President.
In presidential races, the central government has an advantage because the autonomous regions are all divided; on the other hand, the central government used to be the sole ruler, so even the people living in the autonomous areas primarily support candidates from the central government.
Next, the Prime Minister.
A 60%+1 vote from MPs in parliament is for electing the prime minister, and 50%+1 for using him/her. The prime minister has no term limit, but one can only be MP for a maximum of 12 years or 3 terms.
One can become Prime Minister without being an MP, so it's theoretically possible to remain as prime minister until death; of course, if 50%+1 MPs decide, they could always remove the prime minister, so unlike the President, which has a fixed term, the prime minister has no job security.
The MPs would be elected by a proportional representation system with a 1% threshold.
The parliament has 500 members, so if one party gets one percent, they would be given 5 MPs.
Only parties can run; however, creating a party is easy, so if one wants to be elected without joining a major party, one can easily create a new party. If they earn at least 1%, they and 4 others from their party can enter the parliament.
There are detailed laws about the selection of the MPs by parties; one is that all potential MPs of a party must be disclosed before the vote, so it's not possible to first go to an election and then talk about who the MPs would be; the MP list must contain a member for all 500 seats.
With so many autonomous regions, it should be expected that a lot of parties would be able to enter with a 1% threshold.
Again, the central government would have the biggest party, but having an outright majority in a proportional representation system is extremely difficult.
The polls predict that nobody would have a majority.
The next elections are planned for late next fall. After all, the infrastructure is now nonexistent.
The next big issue is the court system.
One of the first acts of the central government was setting up the Supreme Court and appointing its judges.
When that was done, they tried to set up courts in the autonomous regions, but it was watered down after negotiations.
The autonomous regions didn't compromise on this point.
It was decided that the regions would appoint judges on their territory, but laws set by the central government would be binding to those judges.
Also, only the Supreme Court was empowered to invalidate laws and regulations of the central government; all other courts could only apply them, even if they were plainly unconstitutional.
With the situation stabilizing, Rob started doing his ministerial job.
He hired agents and sent them to the autonomous regions, ordering them to fine the local government for every violation of the laws and regulations of the central government.
After a few weeks, the autonomous regions everywhere protested and refused to pay. Some completely disregarded the fines, but others, like the Five Dragons Group, came to the capital and sued.
Only the Supreme Court can invalidate laws and regulations, so suing in local courts is useless.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments and ruled quickly.
It vacated most of the fines issued by the interior minister and upheld only some. It specified that its decision is not precedent-setting and only on procedural grounds, not ruling on the greater issue of whether the interior ministry has the power to issue fines at all.
However, it is very clearly written in the opinion that the ruling only applies to those autonomous regions that sued.
So, those regions that completely disregarded the fines and didn't even bother to sue wouldn't be helped by the decision.
When they found out, they also sued to reduce the fines.
However, the Supreme Court dismissed their lawsuit as untimely. They came too late.
This caused division among the autonomous regions.
Those whose fines were reduced started thinking of making a deal to comply with the regulations to get the penalties waived.
Those whose lawsuits were dismissed got even angrier and refused to compromise. They started labeling the central government and Supreme Court as illegitimate.
They only joined because Alex's kingdom forced them with various means; they never wanted to join.
However, if Alex's kingdom could force them once, they could do it again.
Alex III ordered the doppelgangers of their leaders to be tortured.
After only a few days, they agreed to pay fines in full.
Only then did Alex's kingdom stop the torture.
After negotiations, all autonomous regions agreed to implement all laws and regulations by the central government fully. They would remain the leaders, control their affairs, and pass laws themselves, but no local law could conflict with laws or regulations by the central government.
The issue of whether the interior minister can issue fines was put aside for the moment.
Then, Rob started strengthening his position.
The interior minister is responsible for properly applying laws and regulations in the country. The ministry itself has little authority to make rules.
But Rob wasn't satisfied; he planned on pushing the envelope.
So, the ministry issued a regulation about how the compensation to homeowners should be distributed.
The issue clearly had nothing to do with his ministry. It was the job of the housing minister.
But, Rob made his order apply only to the autonomous regions that initially refused to comply.
Then, he justified it as a 'deal' to reduce the fines.
He said, 'It's not us doing it; we are just reducing the fines.'
Still, because it only applied to a few disobedient local autonomous regions, nobody sued, so the regulation remained.
Then, Rob did the next push.
He made a deal with the regions: he would not fine them in some instances if they implemented some changes regarding healthcare.
Again, it had nothing to do with the Ministry of Interior, but Rob's justification was the same; he only waived fines; what the regions agreed to do had nothing to do with him.
Of course, the central government saw it for what it was: a power grab.
They sued the Ministry of Interior.
The Supreme Court, however, sided with Rob.
They ruled, 'the ministry can exercise discretion on whether to issue fines or not to do so. Here, the plaintiffs can remove the minister from his position if they are unsatisfied with his performance. For this court to act while the plaintiffs refuse to do so is inappropriate. Therefore, the clerk is directed to DISMISS the suit with prejudice'.
It's easy to say they can fire Rob, but Alex's kingdom would destroy them if they broke their deal.
With the Supreme Court dismissing the lawsuit, Rob continued to interfere in affairs more and more, effectively having more power than the prime minister.
This situation will continue like this, at least until the next election when the MPs and the new parliament will be elected.
...
Alex III was very satisfied with how things have gone on Five Star's side. He has been directing Rob to grab more power, and unsurprisingly, with his wisdom, Rob is the most powerful.
The death rate there has declined to a very manageable level.
So, with all this done, Alex II started focusing on the supernatural.
Recently, there have been a few letters from the black forest. The last letter reported something that can be explained only by the supernatural.