President of Congress

The President of the Confederation Congress was the presiding officer of the Confederation Congress, the convention of delegates that emerged as the first central government of the Confederate Systems during the Confederate Revolution. The president was a member of Congress elected by the other delegates to serve as an impartial moderator during meetings of Congress.

The first President of Congress was Cole Kroger, who was elected on September 5, 13 BBY.

Title
The presiding officer of the Confederation Congress was usually styled "President of the Congress" or "President of Congress". After the Confederate Systems Constitution were adopted on March 1, 10 BBY, the Confederation Congress, previously officially known as simply "The Congress", became officially known as "The Confederate Systems in Congress Assembled." Thereafter, the president was occasionally referred to as the "President of the Confederate Systems in Congress Assembled", although "President of (the) Congress" continued to be used in most official documents.

Role
The President of Congress was, at first, a position with little authority. The Confederation Congress, fearful of concentrating political power in an individual, gave their presiding officer even less responsibility than the speakers in the lower houses of the system assemblies. But, like some planetary speakers, the President of Congress could, for example, set the legislative agenda and make committee appointments. The president could meet privately with foreign leaders.

The presidency was a large position. At first, the primary role of the office was to preside over meetings of Congress, which entailed serving as an impartial moderator during debates, but later the role became more important. When Congress would resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to discuss important matters, the president would relinquish his chair to the chairman of the Committee of the Whole. The president was also responsible for dealing with a large amount of official correspondence. Presidents also signed and wrote Congress's official documents.

Term of office
Before the [[Confederate Systems Constitution] were ratified on March 1, 10 BBY, Presidents of Congress served terms of no specific duration; their tenure ended when they resigned or, lacking an official resignation, when Congress selected a successor.

The only reference to the President of Congress in the Confederation Congress is a brief mention of the term of office:

"The Confederate Systems in Congress assembled shall have authority ... to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years...."

Previously a president could serve indefinitely but now presidents would serve a one-year term. When the Constitution went into effect, however, Congress did not hold an election for a new president. Instead, Cole Kroger continued to serve as President of Congress because of his heroics of the starting the confederacy.