Seal of the President.
The office of the President of the United Federation of Planets was established on October 11, 2161, with the signing of the Federation Charter. The President is the official head of state and head of government for the Federation, elected by the people every four standard years (unless a special election is called). In the Revelations storyline, it will be changed to every four standard months (first term starting in January and ending at the end of April, then the second beginning on the first day of May and going until the end of August, as an example). The office of the Federation President is currently held by Pelya of Delta IV.
Note: A great deal of the information on the President, and the names of the Presidents before Jaresh-Inyo, is from the non-canon archive here on Wikia, with information from the New Worlds storylines added in.
General Information[]
The President has an unlimited number of five-year terms, and therefore can remain President until he or she resigns, is defeated for re-election or dies in office.
The President's office is on the 15th floor of the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower. The 15th floor also has the office of the President's secretary, personal transporter room, and two meeting rooms named for former Presidents Kenneth Wescott and Ra-ghoratrei. The 13th and 14th floors house the president's staff, with the Chief of Staff's office and the offices of the cabinet members located on the outer rim of Floor Fourteen, while the presidential support staff, including the various deputy chiefs of staff, speechwriters, and other presidential employees, are housed on Floor Thirteen and the innermost rim of Fourteen's offices. It is customary for each president to redecorate the Presidential Office and the top three floors of the Palais as that president sees fit.
The official residence of the President of the United Federation of Planets is Château Thelian, located in the Loire Valley (aka the Vallée de la Loire) in France and built to the specifications of other such famous châteaux in the valley. Château Thelian is as large as the Château de Saint Brisson, which itself served as the residence of former presidential Chief of Staff Koll Azernal. Built during the term of Thelianaresth "Thelian" th'Vorothishria in the early 24th Century to serve as his residence, Château Thelian features a sitting room with the portraits of each president since Thelian. Château Thelian also features a private transporter room, typically used for quick transit between the château and the Palais, and of course the presidential bedchambers.
The official presidential transport is known as Starfleet One, and true to its name it is typically a Starfleet-run vessel. One of the vessels that served as Starfleet One was the U.S.S. Grand Alliance, a diplomatic transport designed by Admiral John Payne in the 2360s. The Grand Alliance was mothballed shortly after President Jaresh-Inyo was elected in 2368.
Legislative Duties[]
The duties of the President of the United Federation of Planets are numerous. As the Federation lacks a strict separation of powers found in many governments, the president not only serves as head of the executive branch, but also serves as the head of the legislature. As such, the Articles of the Federation hold that the president is required to preside over all full sessions of the Council of the United Federation of Planets "barring special circumstances." The president "has the option, but is not required, to preside over meetings of the various sub-councils;" if the president chooses not to preside over a sub-council, then the chair of said council serves as the presiding officer. The president is also required to nominate Federation Councillors to the various sub-councils, with the full Council then being responsible for ratifying such nominations. While presiding over a Council or sub-council session, the president reserves the right to determine who may or may not speak to the council from the speaker's floor, and may also determine when voting on a bill or resolution is to take place, even though the president may not vote.
The president is generally expected to solicit the participation of councillors from the appropriate sub-councils when dealing with issues pretaining to that sub-council's jurisdiction, and a full sub-council sometimes is capable of exercising authority nearly equal to that of the president's over an issue. For instance, the Federation Security Council has the right to order Starfleet Operations to issue orders to subordinate Starfleet agencies such as the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, a right shared only by the admiralty and the president, though an order from the president does over-ride an order from a sub-council in executive issues.
The president has the right to executive review of legislation passed by the Federation Council, and may veto a bill. From there, the bill may be sent back to the Council, which may override the veto if a sufficiently large number of councillors vote as such. The president may also introduce bills and resolutions to the Council.
Military Duties[]
The president also serves as the commander of the Federation military (though the specific title of "Commander-in-Chief" is held by the highest-ranking Starfleet officer), granting the president nearly absolute authority over the actions of Starfleet. The president may not declare war, however; that particular right is reserved to the Council. The president also has the right to declare martial law on a Federation Member State, a political subdivision of a Member State, or in a political subdivision of the Federation itself. In 2372, for instance, President Jaresh-Inyo of Grazer declared martial law on Earth (the primary planetary political subdivision of United Earth, a founding Member, and capital planet of the UFP itself) in response to concerns about Changeling infilration when that planet's power distribution system was sabotaged.
List of Presidents[]
These are the presidents of the Federation up to Jaresh-Inyo (source: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido).
- Thomas Vanderbilt (Earth): 2161-2164
- Haroun al-Rashid (Earth): 2165-2172
- T'Maran (Vulcan): 2173-2177
- Avaran (Andor): 2177-2184
- Jonathan Archer (Earth): 2184-2192
- Sardix (Unknown): 2193-c2200s
- Madza Bral (Trill): 2232-2239
- Samuel Qasr (Earth): 2244?-2248?
- Kenneth Wescott (Earth): 2260-2268
- Lorne McLaren (Earth): 2269-2271
- Hiram Roth (Earth): 2271-2288 (died in office)
- Ra-ghoratrei (Efros): 2288-2301
- Gan Laikan (Alpha Centauri): 2301-2310s?
- Thelian (Andor): c.2325-2328
- T'Pragh (Vulcan): c. 2350s-2362
- Amitra (Pandril): 2364-2368
- Jaresh-Inyo (Grazer): 2368-23??
- Three previous presidents - names and dates unknown
- Pelya (Delta IV) 23??-present