Supreme Chancellor election, 32 BBY

During the final one thousand years of the Republic Era, the galaxy enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace. Following centuries of battles against adversaries such as the Sith, the Mandalorians, and the Zygerrian Slave Empire, the modern Galactic Republic, bolstered by the Jedi Order, solidified its position as the dominant galactic force. After reaching its peak of influence and prosperity during the High Republic Era, the Republic began a decline, weighed down by widespread corruption and administrative gridlock. Senator Sheev Palpatine, representing the Mid Rim planet of Naboo, observed that the Galactic Senate was mired in political infighting and the selfish agendas of its members. During the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum proved ineffective in his attempts to mediate the conflict between the Trade Federation and the Royal House of Naboo. His situation was further complicated by unsubstantiated allegations of corruption, leading many to view Valorum as a weak figurehead controlled by the bureaucrats who effectively governed the Republic through their influence over the Office of the Chancellor.

Queen Padmé Amidala, the elected Monarch of Naboo, traveled to Coruscant, a city-world and the galactic capital located in the Core Worlds, to implore the Senate to intervene on behalf of the Naboo people whose homeworld was under the Trade Federation Droid Army's occupation. While Chancellor Valorum convened a special Senate session for Amidala to present her case, Senator Palpatine cautioned the queen that the Senate was unlikely to act decisively under Valorum's leadership. He outlined her options, suggesting she could either request the Senate to remove Valorum via a Vote of No Confidence, thereby enabling the election of a more capable leader, or appeal to the Supreme Court. However, the Republic courts were notorious for their slow decision-making, even slower than the Senate, and Amidala held Valorum in high regard, recognizing him as one of Naboo's strongest supporters.

Accompanied by Palpatine to the Senate Building in the Senate District of Galactic City, Amidala's initial attempts to persuade the Senate to take immediate action against the Trade Federation failed when its representative, Senator Lott Dod, proposed that the Senate send a commission to Naboo to verify the queen's claims. Unwilling to wait for the Senate to debate Naboo's situation in committee, Amidala, now convinced that the Republic needed a change in leadership, followed Palpatine's advice and denounced Valorum before the Senate. The Senate granted her request, removing Valorum from his position and initiating a special election to choose a new Supreme Chancellor.

Sheev Palpatine, a human nobleman born on the wealthy world of Naboo in the Mid Rim, hailed from one of his homeworld's oldest, most respected, and most influential families. Secretly Force-sensitive, Palpatine was trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force as the Sith apprentice of Darth Plagueis, the Dark Lord of the Sith, and adopted the name Darth Sidious. Sidious eventually killed his Sith Master and trained his own apprentice, Darth Maul, adhering to the Sith Order's tradition of maintaining only two Sith Lords as dictated by the Rule of Two.

To conceal his identity as a Sith Lord, Sidious cultivated the public image of Palpatine, a politician representing the Naboo delegation in the Senate. The Sith had been working for generations to restore their order to prominence, culminating in Sidious's rise, who sought to realize the Great Plan initiated by his ancient predecessor, Darth Bane. As part of this plan, Sidious orchestrated the blockade of his own homeworld by the Trade Federation during a dispute over taxation of trade routes in hyperspace. Queen Amidala turned to her advisor, Senator Palpatine, unaware of his involvement in the invasion. When Chancellor Valorum dispatched two Jedi diplomats—Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi—to resolve the blockade, Sidious instructed Viceroy Nute Gunray to expedite their plans by deploying the Trade Federation's droid army to Naboo. Consequently, the capital city of Theed and the rest of the planet fell to the Federation's battle droids, and Amidala sought Palpatine's counsel on Coruscant.

Senator Bail Antilles of the Alderaanian delegation was one of the two nominees who ran against Senator Palpatine for the chancellorship. The other candidate was Senator Ainlee Teem, representing the Malastare delegation. Palpatine was confident that he could secure the Senate's support by capitalizing on their sympathy for his homeworld, giving him an edge over his political competitors.

Alderaan, an ancient, prestigious, and peaceful planet in the Core Worlds, saw Senator Antilles regarded as a respected politician during his time representing the Alderaanians. Antilles had ties to the royal House of Organa through his connection to Breha Organa, who would later ascend to the throne as Queen of Alderaan by 28 BBY.

Malastare, like Naboo, was a planet in the Mid Rim and the homeworld of the Dugs, as well as immigrant species such as Gran and humans. Senator Teem, a Gran politician, represented the Congress of Malastare during the Invasion of Naboo.

Amidala returned to Senator Palpatine's apartment at 500 Republica, awaiting the outcome of Chancellor Valorum's removal from office. Palpatine, accompanied by the queen's bodyguard, Captain Quarsh Panaka, personally informed Amidala of his nomination for the now-vacant position of Supreme Chancellor, expressing his surprise at being considered by the Senate. Palpatine pledged to Amidala that, if elected, he would work to eliminate corruption within the Republic. Amidala inquired about the other nominees and learned from Panaka that the senators of Alderaan and Malastare were also vying for the Republic's highest office.

Confident that Naboo's predicament would garner sympathy for its people, Palpatine assured Amidala that he would defeat his opponents and become the next chancellor. Despite Palpatine's confidence, Amidala felt that it would take too long to control the bureaucrats who controlled Valorum, allowing the Trade Federation to maintain its grip on Naboo. Resolving to return to Naboo, she was determined to reclaim her home planet, despite Palpatine's urging for her to remain on Coruscant. The Senate's inaction regarding the Naboo crisis convinced the queen that the Republic had abandoned its principles, as Palpatine had asserted. Before departing the capital, Amidala implored Palpatine to dedicate his chancellorship to restoring compassion within the Senate.

Additionally, Jinn and Kenobi also returned to Naboo as Amidala's escort at the direction of the Jedi High Council. The Jedi elders believed that the election for a new Supreme Chancellor would increase pressure on the Trade Federation, potentially exposing their alleged Sith benefactors. The High Council aimed to definitively determine the status of the Sith and whether their ancient enemy had indeed returned after a millennium since their last encounter.

Following the Battle of Naboo, the newly elected Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine returned to his homeworld, accompanied by members of the Jedi High Council and the Senate Guard. Amidala, whose strategy had forged an alliance between Naboo's human and Gungan populations, congratulated her advisor on his successful election as chancellor. Palpatine, in turn, praised the queen, attributing the liberation of their people to her courage. He assured Amidala that they would work together to bring peace and prosperity to the Galactic Republic. Palpatine also commended Kenobi on his victory over Darth Maul, and expressed his intention to closely follow the career of Anakin Skywalker. The new chancellor attended the funeral of Qui-Gon Jinn, where Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Master Mace Windu contemplated the identities of the mysterious Sith Lords, as well as the subsequent parade celebrating the liberation of Naboo by both humans and Gungans. Chancellor Palpatine observed as Queen Amidala presented Boss Rugor Nass, the leader of the Gungan High Council, with the Globe of Peace.

Having successfully manipulated the Invasion of Naboo to position himself for election as the new Supreme Chancellor, Sidious spent the next decade cultivating another political crisis: a secessionist movement of disillusioned star systems that formed the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Publicly, Palpatine opposed the Separatist Crisis and vowed to protect the Republic, which had remained united for a thousand years. Simultaneously, Sidious guided the movement with the assistance of his new apprentice, the former Jedi Count Dooku.

By the time of the groundquakes at Bromlarch, Malastare's influence in the Senate had declined due to their senator's failure to be elected. Antilles was succeeded in the Senate by Bail Organa, who was married to Queen Breha, and Amidala took over Palpatine's former role as a senator after her reign on Naboo ended.

With Palpatine leading the Republic and Dooku heading the Separatists, Sidious effortlessly steered both sides into open warfare. The threat of the first galaxy-wide war in a millennium, coupled with the discovery of the Separatist Droid Army on Geonosis, compelled the Senate to support Junior Representative Jar Jar Binks' proposal to grant emergency powers to Chancellor Palpatine. Using this new authority, Palpatine unilaterally created the Republic Military, using the clone troopers grown on Kamino as the foundation of the newly established Grand Army of the Republic.

Hundreds of senators were under Sidious' control when the Clone Wars began with the First Battle of Geonosis in 22 BBY. The war lasted for three years, culminating in the decisive Battle of Utapau where Jedi General Kenobi eliminated General Grievous. By that point, however, Palpatine controlled both the Senate and the courts, and the Jedi grew increasingly suspicious of his motives, fearing that he would not relinquish his power once the war concluded.

Following the deaths of Dooku and Grievous, Sidious revealed his Sith identity to Skywalker, the Jedi Order's prophesied Chosen One, who then reported directly to the High Council. The Jedi confronted the chancellor, intending to remove him from office, but Skywalker, having embraced the dark side of the Force, prevented Sidious's destruction. Sidious then activated the clone troopers' behavioral modification biochips through Order 66, compelling the Jedi's own soldiers to execute them as enemies of the state, while his new apprentice, Darth Vader, assassinated the Separatist Council on Mustafar in 19 BBY.

With the war concluded and the Great Jedi Purge underway, Sidious issued a proclamation declaring himself Galactic Emperor. Consequently, the Galactic Republic was dissolved, replaced by the New Order of the First Galactic Empire. The Emperor's rule over the galaxy would last for a generation, ending with his demise in 4 ABY and the conclusion of the Imperial Era in 5 ABY.