Separatist Senate

The Separatist Senate, also known as the Separatist Parliament, the Legislative Senate, the Confederate parliament or the Separatist Congress, was the civilian legislative body of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, representing thousands of its member worlds during the Clone Wars, and consisting of the senators who represented various worlds. When the charismatic Count Dooku founded the Confederacy in 24 BBY, the swaths of sectors and star systems seceding from the Galactic Republic formed their own congressional assembly to oversee the new Separatist state. A number of the appointed delegates, many having served as members of the Galactic Senate prior to their secession, continued to represent their constituents in the Confederacy. Operating by a written constitution known as the Bylaws of Independent Systems, the Senate was headed by the Confederate Head of State, Dooku, as well as by Separatist Congress Leader Bec Lawise. During the duration of the Clone Wars, the congressional body was headquartered on the Confederate capital of Raxus Secundus, where it regularly convened for sessions held in the Separatist Senate Building.

Although the representative voices of the Senate gained a role in state matters, various elements of the Separatist hierarchy often rendered them ineffective. The secret corporate interests on the Executive Separatist Council also influenced the Separatist Senate decisions, while Dooku himself—who was secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Tyranus—manipulated situations to ensure that pan-galactic war continued for the purposes of the Sith. At times maneuvers on the part of other war-profiteering parties negated legislation that the Senate had enacted; some came to see the assembly's members as Dooku's pawns. Furthermore, the senators as well as the citizens of the Confederacy were repeatedly shielded from front-line reports of brutal campaigns waged by commanders of the Separatist Droid Army such as General Grievous. Ultimately, the Confederacy was regarded more as a movement instead of a centralized government, in spite of the Senate's involvement in public affairs.

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