President of the United Federation of Planets

The **President of the United Federation of Planets** is the head of government and head of state for the United Federation of Planets.

## Election of the President

The Federation elects its president based on a majority of a majority of its member worlds. Colonies which have not achieved responsible government are not represented in this election. The election cycle for the Federation begins in February every 4 years; each planet selects one to three candidates for President, each of which will campaign on his/her home world for up to 6 months prior, which varies planet to planet.

In October, each planet will have a vote in accordance with planetary law, either a planetwide election, or via the planetary government's legislature, to vote for the top 3 candidates for president, one of which must not be from the planet itself. The results are tallied across all Federation members using biometric data to verify the identity of each voter and prevent double-voting or ballot-stuffing (mostly insisted by the Vulcans against Earth, considering its history, especially in cities like Chicago and New York, which were often ruled by one party for decades, engendering massive corruption). The top 3 candidates are then found, and a second round of campaigns are then called; the next election is the first full week of November. The former candidates typically endorse one of the top three vote-getters, encouraging those who voted for them to vote for one of the remaining three. Once a candidate gets a majority of the vote of a majority of the member planets, that person is considered to have won.

It is important to note this method is designed to prevent fringe candidates who might win a majority on one planet, but minority votes on other planets, from winning. It makes every member world important.

For example:

* Assume all planets have 5 billion people
* Vulcan: 3% for Shran
* Earth: 15% for Shran
* Tellar: 92% for Shran
* Alpha Centauri: 45% for Shran
* Andoria: 98% for Shran

There are 25 billion votes, and Shran would get 12.5 billion votes, half, but he only won 2 planets of 5, and would not win the presidency. This system was designed by the Vulcans so that the Presidency would not be beholden to races who have the most colonies or most population but would equalize all members of the Federation in importance. In this example, if John Smith of Earth got 51% of Vulcan, 51% of Earth, and 55% of Alpha Centauri, he would win, having gotten the majority of a majority of planets, even though he would've gotten fewer votes than Shran.

## Powers of the President

The President can direct Starfleet and help direct scientific exploration, receive diplomats, commission officers in the Starfleet, and runs the bureaucracy. He can convene the Federation Security Council, a meeting of the heads of planetary defense of 13 member worlds, five of which are permanent seats for Vulcan, Earth, Alpha Centauri, Tellar, and Andoria. This council advises the President on matters of war and peace, and includes the Chiefs of Staff for Starfleet and the Starfleet Marine Corps, the Federation Army, to advise the President on the current capability of each branch of service. The President can convene the Federation Council to work on important issues that affect the entire federation. The President can operate on intermember trade, but not intramember trade within a member's solar system or between a member and its colonies which haven't achieved responsible government.

The President cannot operate on solely internal issues of any Federation member. If there's an issue on Vulcan, for example, that does not involve another planet, occurs between two Vulcans, and involves no other member world, then only Vulcan has jurisdiction. The President cannot intervene, and it would be a violation of Vulcan sovereignty to interfere. By custom, Federation Presidents do not comment on the internal affairs of member worlds, unless it's a matter affecting other worlds or their obligations to the Federation (which include civil rights, prohibition of slavery in all forms, and so on).