Chancellor ( New Republic ) Chancellor was the title given to the leader of the Galactic Senate of the New Republic . Mon Mothma of Chandrila was the first individual to hold the title following the formation of the New Republic . Though the office had little power , Mothma ' s term allowed her to forge a broad political consensus about the future of the Republic that allowed a stable government to come to power . After her term ended , however , differing views emerged in the form of political factions , the Centrists and the Populists , who disagreed on the extent to which the Republic should have had strong centralized power . A new and more powerful executive office , First Senator , was proposed to replace the office of the chancellor , but the debate in the Senate ended with no consensus . Thirty years after the formation of the Republic , during the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance , Lanever Villecham served as the New Republic ' s chancellor until his death during the destruction of the Hosnian system . Powers . The powers of the Chancellor of the New Republic were derived from the charter of the Chancellor , and they were granted after the formation of the New Republic and the establishment of a new Galactic Senate on Chandrila . The first New Republic chancellor , Mon Mothma , was given the emergency powers that were once granted to Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars . Mothma , who spent the duration of the Clone Wars arguing against the increased powers of the chancellor , intended to eliminate the emergency powers from her position . Though the powers granted her the authority to send New Republic forces to fight and die wherever she chose , she did not want such a responsibility and felt that it was a poison to democracy . Instead , she submitted to the will of the Senate , even in military matters such as the disarmament of the New Republic Defense Fleet . History . The origins of the New Republic chancellery came from the Galactic Republic , where the Supreme Chancellor served as the leader of the Galactic Senate and the Republic itself . During the Clone Wars , Supreme Chancellor Palpatine amassed more and more executive powers until , at the end of the war , he had enough power to transform the Republic into the Galactic Empire and declare himself sovereign ruler of the galaxy . The position of Chancellor continued into Alliance to Restore the Republic , where Mon Mothma was given the title of chancellor while serving as the Alliance ' s political leader . After the death of Emperor Palpatine during the Battle of Endor , the Alliance formed the New Republic . A new Galactic Senate was established on Mothma ' s homeworld of Chandrila , and Mothma was elected as the first Chancellor of the New Republic . She focused her tenure on eliminating the emergency powers granted to her by the chancellery ' s charter , as well as proposing a large - scale military disarmament to occur once the Galactic Civil War between the Republic and the Empire came to an end . The end of the war and the signing of the Galactic Concordance , the peace treaty with the Empire , saw the achievement of that proposal through the Military Disarmament Act . Further reforms carried out by Chancellor Mothma included the rotation of the Senate ' s capital amongst member worlds . That decision , as well as the decision to not headquarter the Senate on the former galactic capital world of Coruscant , did much to convince star system s that the New Republic would be different from its predecessor governments . Though the office of the chancellor had little central authority , Chancellor Mothma was credited with forging a political consensus during her term in office that allowed the New Republic to establish itself as a lasting power . After her term in office ended , however , her successors failed to create that same political consensus , a consensus that Senator Leia Organa credited to her charisma as a leader . Twenty - four years after the Battle of Endor , two political factions — the Centrists and the Populists — had emerged with divergent views on the role of the central government and the power of the executive . Lady Carise Sindian , a Centrist , eventually proposed the abolition of the office of the chancellor and a redrafting of the Republic ' s constitution to create a new position : First Senator , which she proposed would have strong authority over economics and the military . A fierce debate emerged amongst those who favored a strong central authority and those who worried that a position like First Senator would lead to the rise of another emperor . Senator Organa became a leading candidate for the role of First Senator , despite her reservations about the creation of the office . Her candidacy was derailed , however , after it was revealed by her political enemies , including Senator Ransolm Casterfo and Lady Carise , that she was the daughter of the late Sith Lord Darth Vader . Senator Tai - Lin Garr replaced her as the populist candidate , but Garr was soon assassin ated . The vote to abolish the role of chancellor and replace it with First Senator was tabled soon thereafter . Twenty - nine years after the Battle of Endor , the office of chancellor was still active and Senator Lanever Villecham of the Tarsunt system was elected to the post . He pursued improved trade relations with the neutral worlds of the Trans - Hydian Borderlands , and he disagreed with Organa — who had become the leader of the Resistance — that the First Order represented a threat or a violation of the Galactic Concordance . Organa , who formed the Resistance to combat the First Order when the Republic refused to intervene , was ultimately proven right when the First Order used its superweapon , Starkiller Base , to target the Republic . It destroyed the Republic ' s capital world of Hosnian Prime , killing Chancellor Villecham and the rest of the planet ' s population . Behind the scenes . The position of chancellor of the New Republic first appeared in the 2015 novel " Aftermath " , written by Chuck Wendig . In the Expanded Universe of books , comics , and games , which has since become the non - canon " Star Wars " Legends brand , the leader of the New Republic was known as the Chief of State . Like in canon , Legends stories also depicted Mon Mothma as the first leader of the New Republic .