How is the leader of the federation lected in the Trekverse?
- Thread starter Yevetha
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Non-canon though it may be, Articles of the Federation says that candidates for the office of Federation President are first vetted by the Council (who determines if said candidates are qualified), and the subsequent election is by direct popular vote.
In the DS9 episode "Paradise Lost," we get the following exchange:
However, as Mr. Laser Beam noted above, the novels have established that the Federation President is popularly elected after the Federation Council determines which candidates who petition the Council for candidacy are legally qualified. The legal qualifications are unestablished. We know that it typically takes at least a week to calculate everyone's vote, and that votes are triple checked against the results tabulated by two independent accounting firms in addition to the Federation government's own counts.
However, Mr. Laser Beam was mistaken about which novel this was established in; the election of a new Federation President, and the processes thereof, was established in the novel A Time for War, A Time for Peace by Keith R.A. DeCandido, to which Articles of the Federation was a follow-up.
So we know from that that the Federation President is elected in some manner. Whether it's by popular election, indirect election, or election by the Federation Council, we don't know.
However, as Mr. Laser Beam noted above, the novels have established that the Federation President is popularly elected after the Federation Council determines which candidates who petition the Council for candidacy are legally qualified. The legal qualifications are unestablished. We know that it typically takes at least a week to calculate everyone's vote, and that votes are triple checked against the results tabulated by two independent accounting firms in addition to the Federation government's own counts.
However, Mr. Laser Beam was mistaken about which novel this was established in; the election of a new Federation President, and the processes thereof, was established in the novel A Time for War, A Time for Peace by Keith R.A. DeCandido, to which Articles of the Federation was a follow-up.
Okay, a literalist. I better warn you. If you ever go to the Voyager forum, don't bother asking Guy Gardner to cite his comments.
No one claimed they were. But being non-canonical doesn't mean anything, other than that they don't have the option of contradicting older entries of the canon that new canon entries have.
They establish it for the purpose of the novels, which is really all that matters, since it's not like anyone's making new Star Trek episodes these days.
Well, no, it's not canonical, either.
It's just that, really, the issue of "canon" is meaningless. All that a new Star Trek story being canon means is that it can contradict the old canon but new apocrypha (i.e., novels, comics, etc.) can't contradict it. The issue of canon is only meaningful from the POV of an episode or movie writer trying to decide what to stay consistent with and what can be safely ignored.
Umm, no. New productions in no way supersede or can contradict previously established canon, if anything in terms of continuity, it the older productions that establishes a precedent.
And maybe not even then, since one author's novel can (for example) tell of a Federation president elected by popular vote, a different author can have the President be the head of the most powerful coalition, and a third author can depict the (small p) president as nothing but a figurehead-puppet installed by the government bureaucrats who actually run the Federation government.
Unlike the on-screen show, the novels really need not have any level of continuity with their predecessors, (or successors), only with the show itself.
Oh, bullocks, of course they do. "The Immunity Syndrome"'s claim that no Vulcan could conceive of being conquered contradicted "The Conscience of the King"'s "My father's people were spared the effects of alcohol"/"No wonder they were conquered" exchange between Spock and McCoy. Every damn episode ever contradicts the depiction of anti-matter in "The Alternate Factor." Anything calling him James T. Kirk contradicts the "James R. Kirk" in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." "The Offspring" and any other episode declaring that Data can't use contractions contradicts the first season of TNG, when he used contractions all the time. "Redemption" and any TNG or DS9 episode that featured the Klingon Empire as an independent political entity contradicts "Samaritan Snare," where Wesley mentions that they had long ago joined the Federation. DS9's depiction of joined Trill as each being a unique individual contradicts TNG's "The Host," where a joined Trill is just a continuation of the Trill symbiont's personality, which never changes from host to host. ENT contradicted any previous episode which referred to there as having only been six starships Enterprise. ENT's "Fusion" and other Vulcan episodes claiming that mind melds were rare and shunned in Vulcan society contradicted TOS, where mind melds were depicted as an ancient practice so common they were even used for childhood betrothals. Every episode that depicted transwarp drive contradicted its depiction in VOY's "Threshold." The Borg were established as thousands of centuries old, asexual, and only interested in technology in "Q Who;" they were revealed to be only about 1,000 years old in VOY's "Dragon's Teeth," possessed multi-sexed drones in Star Trek: First Contact, and to be hellbent on turning other cultures' citizens into their drones in "The Best of Both Worlds" and First Contact (and that's to say nothing of the reveal of the Borg Queen). Ketracel White was established as a drug that only the Dominion produced in order to ensure Jem'Hadar loyalty in DS9, and then the Son'a were depicted as producing it in Star Trek: Insurrection. Any episode or film that used the term "quadrant" before the four-quadrants-for-the-galaxy scheme Mike Okuda and others developed behind the scenes in the early 90s (such as Kirk's "We're the only ship in the quadrant" line from TWOK) has been contradicted. The entirety of VOY contradicts Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, wherein a trip to the center of the galaxy just takes a couple of hours. The deck count of the Enterprise-E goes from 24 decks in FC to 29 in NEM. Numerous episodes of DS9 where Starfleet is described as a military contradict TNG's "Peak Performance," where Picard declares that it isn't. Klingon blood is pink in TUC, but red everywhere else; Klingons are described as having no tear ducts and incapable of crying in TUC, but TNG establishes that there's a legend about Kahless crying so much that he creates a river. Qo'noS is described as losing oxygen and requiring evacuation in TUC; it appears numerous times in TNG. Scotty thought Kirk was still alive at the time of his 70-year transporter trick in TNG's "Relics," but GEN establishes that he was there when Kirk was believed killed. TOS's "Metamorphosis" establishes that Zefram Cochrane was from Alpha Centauri, but he's from Earth in ST:FC. In "Encounter at Farpoint," Data claims to have graduated from Starfleet Academy in the "class of '78," even though the first season is set in the year 2364 as established in "The Neutral Zone." In "Fury," Janeway remarks that Tuvok is not yet 100 years old, but he must be in order to have been 29 aboard the Excelsior, seen in "Flashback." In TUC, Dimitry Valtane is alive at the end of the film, but dies long before the Excelsior reaches Khitomer in "Flashback." In "Q Who," the Borg were utterly unknown to the Federation; in "Dark Frontier," they've been known about at least since the 2350s. Romulans have smooth foreheads in TOS, bumpy ones in TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT, and then smooth foreheads again in ST09. Etc., etc., etc.
New canon contradicts old canon all the time. We as fans can find rationalizations to maintain the illusion of consistency, but it's an illusion. That's the privilege of being canonical -- you can contradict prior installments if you want. That's literally the only difference between new canon and new novels.
Sure, the novels have the option of contradicting themselves. Then we'll talk about how the President is determined in those other novels. What's your point?
True. Though most novelists choose to maintain continuity with one-another. But, again, so what? We'll just include info from the alternate novel continuities. It's not like there has to be One True Presidential Determination Scheme here; we can include contradictory information in our discussion here at the TrekBBS.
They start by conducting a draw to select the means by which they'll elect a president this episode... I mean, this time.
What a depressing way to elect a leader. Is the general population not educated enough to decide whether someone is qualified to lead?
^ The Constitution of the United States sets out qualifications that anyone wishing to run for President of the US must have. Same story here, really. 
We don't know exactly what the qualifications *are* to run for Federation President, but they probably aren't too terribly harsh. I don't find it that unusual that the Federation Council would be tasked with sifting through candidates in this way. When the leadership of the Federation is at stake, the Council has every right to decide who is qualified.
And remember, the actual *election* of Federation President is by direct popular vote. So I don't see any problem here.
We don't know exactly what the qualifications *are* to run for Federation President, but they probably aren't too terribly harsh. I don't find it that unusual that the Federation Council would be tasked with sifting through candidates in this way. When the leadership of the Federation is at stake, the Council has every right to decide who is qualified.
And remember, the actual *election* of Federation President is by direct popular vote. So I don't see any problem here.
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