Galactic Alliance - Chief of State

Labyrinth of Evil reveals that it wasn't just a special dispensation from the Senate that allowed Palpatine to remain in office - they'd actually amended the Constitution to allow him to remain in office indefinitely, with the understanding that he would voluntarily step down after the Separatist crisis was resolved. This seems amazingly short-sighted of them, but given the term lengths of some historic Supreme Chancellors, it's not the first time the Republic has consented to extremely lengthy terms of office.

And I should point out that lists of the Chief of State of the New Republic invariably miss an important detail: Leia resigned in The New Rebellion. She didn't step down temporarily or take a leave of absence as she did in the Hand of Thrawn duology (which incidentally means that Ponc Gavrisom was actually not Chief of State in his own right, yet another mistake invariably found in lists); she flat out resigned her office as Chief of State/President, and was replaced by Mothma for a few days (a very quiet and subtle coup d'état right up there with Gen. de Gaulle's and Gen. Franco's in terms of outrageous chutzpah). Mothma's assumption of office was implicitly accepted by the Senate, as nobody moved to reinstate Sen. Meido on the Inner Council after the Chandrilan had him booted.

Ironically, Mothma's own brief foray into tyranny (in the classical sense) was actually a good deal less legal than Palpatine's rise to the Imperial Dignity. Palpatine's expansions of his own power were done with pharisaical attention to detail: He became Emperor gradually by using constitutional amendments, emergency powers resolutions, laws, and referenda to confirm his expansion of power. Mothma simply stepped in and said 'Right, I'm the President again. What's for lunch?'

 

What I find interesting is that Palpatine was able to stay in office due to the Separatist crisis - but according to the latest HNN, the amendment to the Constitution was passed a full 2 years before the crisis even happened...

 

As the NEC shows, Dooku founded the Separatist movement two years before the war broke out. Of course very handy for Palpy, who needed an excuse to stay in power...



/Charlii

 

The Separatist Crisis and the Clone Wars are two different things, or at least I've always seen them described as such. The crisis started in 24 BBY when Dooku formed the Confederacy and the first systems seceeded, and last until 22 BBY, when the war began.

And I've alwasy thought that Mon Mothma was never as democratic as she liked to be seen.

 

Cal Omas could always amend the constitution if the two terms clause still applies.