Populists The Populists were one of two powerful , yet unofficial , political factions that had formed in the Galactic Senate of the New Republic over the two decades following the founding of the regime . They believed that individual member planet s should retain their full sovereignty , while the opposing political faction , the Centrists , favored a stronger galactic government and a larger military . Senator Leia Organa , former hero of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and veteran of the Galactic Civil War , was a well known Populist . At some point , the tension between the two factions threatened to cripple the Senate . The Centrists then called for the election of a " First Senator , " a charismatic individual who would bring order to the divided assembly . Organa and the other Populists , however , were wary of the price that they might have to pay for such order . Organa soon became the Populist candidate for First Senator . However , due to the untimely revelation that she was Darth Vader ' s daughter , the Prince ss was shunned out of office . In need of a new Populist candidate , Senator Tai - Lin Garr was nominated , who , in keeping with Populist values , desired to seize the position in order to render it irrelevant . Before the election was held , however , Garr was assassin ated by Arliz Hadrassian , leader of the Amaxine warriors , leading to an official period of mourning and a delay in the election . Policies . Overall , the Populists had more of a classically liberal ideology , due a general emphasis on greater individual freedoms , both social and economical . The Populists believed that almost all individual member worlds should retain sovereignty in the New Republic . They were divided into separate far - left and far - right branches . The far - left branch wanted to open voting on major decisions to the general public rather than only allow the Senate to vote on such decisions . Prince ss Leia Organa was not optimistic about their goal , thinking that it would only result in trillions of citizens refusing to agree rather than thousands of senator s refusing to agree . By contrast , the far - right branch of the Populists wanted to dissolve the Senate so that each world would once again become a totally sovereign entity . The only thing that these two factions had in common was their shared opposition to the Centrists and their willingness to support Organa ' s candidacy for the position of First Senator . According to the Centrist Senator Ransolm Casterfo ' s analysis , the Populists depended on a charismatic leader to hold the faction together . Most Populist senators with the exception of Organa were perceived as being " soft " on law and order . Unlike their Centrist counterparts , Populists tended to be suspicious of any notion of a strong central government due to its negative association with the Old Empire . History . The Populists emerged as a political faction in the New Republic ' s Galactic Senate at some point following the Galactic Concordance , which concluded the Galactic Civil War . About six years before the destruction of the Hosnian system , the Populists had an adversarial relationship with the Centrists , who valued law and order and advocated a stronger central government . Disagreements between the two factions created gridlock in the Galactic Senate and undermined confidence in the New Republic . Many Populists loathed their Centrist opponents to the extent that it was considered rare for a Populist Senator like Leia Organa to work with a Centrist like Senator Casterfo . Following Organa and Casterfo ' s joint senatorial mission to investigate Rinnrivin Di ' s cartel on Bastatha , the Populist Senator Anib Ney of Sullust accused Casterfo of endangering Organa ' s life . During the same session , the Populists unsuccessfully tried to oppose a motion by the Centrist Lady Carise Sindian to create a new office called " First Senator , " who would wield considerable economic and military power over the New Republic . While many of the senators were not swayed by Lady Carise ' s arguments , Casterfo managed to win over the independent senators by stressing the gridlock in the Senate . In response , the Populists were forced to change tactics and proposed Senator Organa as their candidate for First Senator in an attempt to prevent the Centrists from occupying that position . Later , Organa managed to order an evacuation of the Senate complex before a bomb destroyed half of the conference building . Following the so - called " Napkin Bombing , " both the Populist and Centrist factions and their media accused each other of staging the bombing to gain political capital . Due to his friendship with Organa , Casterfo realized that the Populists would not have endangered the life of their First Senator candidate . In truth , the bombing had been engineered by Arliz Hadrassian , a former TIE fighter pilot and leader of the Amaxine warriors , who wanted to derail Organa and Casterfo ' s investigation into Rinnrivin ' s cartel and her Amaxine warriors . Undaunted , Leia and Casterfo continued their investigation and discovered that a mysterious entity was funding both Di ' s cartel and the Amaxine warriors . Prior to Organa ' s investigation of the Amaxine base on Sibensko , Lady Carise obtained information about her true parent age as the daughter of Darth Vader , who was reviled by many in the New Republic . During the Senate hearing into Organa ' s candidacy for First Senator , she manipulated Casterfo into revealing this information to the assembled senators . As a result , Organa ' s credibility was undermined and she lost the support of many allies in the Populist faction . The only two Populist senators to defend her were her close friends , Tai - Lin Garr and Varish Vicly . Due to the political fallout , Organa was compelled to withdraw her candidacy . As a result , Senator Garr took Organa ' s place as the Populist candidate for First Senator . Following Organa ' s Mission to Sibensko , Hadrassian , under the orders of Lady Carise , assassinated Tai - Lin Garr while he was addressing a crowd of supporters on Hosnian Prime . Several Populists including Organa and Vicly attended his memorial service . Lady Carise then planted information framing Casterfo as Hadrassian ' s supporter and financier . While many Populists believed that Casterfo was guilty , Organa realized that he was innocent and that Lady Carise had framed him in order to eliminate Populists and dissident Centrists . In retaliation , Organa convinced the Elder Houses to strip Lady Carise of all her royal titles , rendering her a commoner . Disillusioned with the infighting between the Populist and Centrist factions in the Senate and the perceived complacency of both factions , Organa resigned as Senator and founded the Resistance , an organization dedicated to defending the New Republic . Behind the scenes . In " Bloodline " , the New Republic ' s bipartisan system is not defined by left - right politics , but instead by " up and down " , meaning the level of centralized control of the government and the extent of its powers . While each party had their own respective wings on both sides of the spectrum , they were fundamentally defined by policies in regards to the power of the state . Where the Centrists would be categorized as having a more authoritatively based approached , the Populists were liberal , supporting limited government , individual freedoms , pluralism , civic - nationalism , planetary sovereignty , noninterventionism , utilitarianism , and economic autonomy for each of the member worlds .