Palpatines Term

In ROTS we hear Obi-wan refur to Palpatine staying in Office for long after his term is over. Between TPM and AOTC is ten years and between AOTC and ROTS is three years. So what is the term for chancollor of the Reppublic. The war is only 3 years so Palpatine is in office for more than 3 years after his term. To the Jedi why is 3 years so long. Do they really suspect Of Palpatine of planning something. Discuss.

 

Well he was Chancellor for a full 13 years I think a regular Chancellor's term is 8-10 years.

 

It wasn't just the term of his stay, but the emergency powers which had been granted to him that made the Jedi suspicious of his motives.

 

He was abusing his powers to stay in office. That was the issue. I assume the term was 10 years - a nice solid number and his term was not yet up in AOTC (unless I'm forgetting something).

 

yes that's correct the emergency powers hes been given. He was misusing them and was holding on to it too long making the Jedi suspicious. The Politicians are giving him the powers and making him on to it if he promises to end the war...he lied. But what about his term in office? He's been on for 13 years right? Shouldn't he be done already? Why is he still in office if he was staying in too long?

 

Silly me, I thought it was only 4-8 years and he stayed on because of brewing war talk. And then the war.

 

I think it's not just the time span but as Padme states in the novelization he's managed to get quite a few "amendments" or changes to the constitution passed in the senate. Probably one of these was the possibility that the chancellor may stay in office longer than the regular time span if there is "a war situation" oder "danger to the republic" or something like that.

 

I agree. If there is some kind of war going on in the Republic the Chancellor must be given emergency powers along with a untimed span in office. So his time in office isn't needed for this time of war.

 

Wasn't there a Lucas quote around the time of AOTC in which he said that by the time of the events in the film, Palpatine's term had alrady expired in contrast to Padme's time as queen, a case where she voluntarily leaves office and seeks no extension?

 

I'm pretty sure it says somewhere in the AOTC novel that the Chancellors term is 8 years! So, in AOTC Palpatine had already gone two years over his term. By ROTS it was 5 years over the limit - due of course, to the fact that he couldn't stand daown whilst The Republic was at war. But, when peace and security have been brought back to the Galaxy, he always intended to stand down.... Honestly!

 

We'll he did step away from his position as Chancellor when the war was over. He just created a new one for himself. See, there really was no reason for Mace and company to try to arrest him.