Galactic Senate

"The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good."

- Senator Palpatine

The Galactic Senate was the governing body of the Galactic Republic. It consisted of hundreds of senators who represented the many worlds of the galaxy, and was led by a Supreme Chancellor was elected by and from the representatives. That assembly sat in the Senate rotunda on Coruscant, the capital world of the Republic. The Senate and the Supreme Chancellor were protected by the blue robed Senate Guards who stood watch and blended in well with the formal surroundings. They could also be found at the entrances to many of the delegate platforms and at the entrances to the Senate rotunda itself.

During the Invasion of Naboo, Senator Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, which ultimately started his rise to Galactic Emperor. Just before the beginning of the Clone Wars, the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus warned the Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker that this body had fallen under the influence of a Dark Lord of the Sith. His warning was disregarded as an attempt to confuse them, but it turned out to be true, as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was actually the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The war resulted in the Senate voting more and more power to Palpatine in the process stripping away its own power. Palpatine would then declare himself Galactic Emperor, reorganizing the Republic into the Empire and the Galactic Senate into the Imperial Senate. Stripped of much its power, the Senate continued to grow weaker under the Empire, which enforced its power largely through a system of Regional Governors. Several years later, he formally disbanded the Senate, sweeping away the last remnant of the Old Republic.