“Bail Antilles remains the front-runner. Ironically, the crisis at Naboo has drawn the Core Worlds into a tighter circle. Where Antilles has always been in danger of being dismissed as the candidate most likely to follow in Valorum’s footsteps, he is suddenly the darling of those advocating for strong, central authority.” Darth Plagueis

It appears quite an outlandish theory but I think it would be interesting to determine what the state of the galaxy would have been like if Bail Antilles, the anti-corruption Senator from Alderaan, had defeated Palpatine in that famous 32 BBY Galactic Chancery election. What if Senator Palpatine had badly miscalculated the political scene at the time of Episode I?

After the controversial Trade Federation invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, the young ruler of the Naboo, Queen Amidala and her Senator, Sheev Palpatine (AKA Darth Sidious), conspired to bring down the ruling Supreme Chancellor, Finis Valorum, in a vote of no confidence after the incumbent’s inability to solve the crisis. The vote of no confidence passed through the Galactic Senate and Valorum was out. This led to three candidates being nominated to replace him.

Bail Antilles was the favourite to replace Valorum, with him being a member of the prestigious Core Faction and also having a strong anti-corruption stance from his high position on the Internal Activities Committee. Of course, Palpatine threw his hat into the ring, running as an independent candidate and getting endorsements from both the Core and Rim Factions of the Senate, and was the dark horse of the campaign whilst Ainlee Teem, a Gran male from Malastare, won endorsements from largely the corporations, big business and other Outer Rim senators who perhaps didn’t want to upset their paymasters in the Trade Federation. In both Canon and Legends, Palpatine easily wins the Chancellorship but it is unclear on what the voting procedure was.

Now for Antilles to win and to give this theory some sort of a realistic chance, we’ll say that Antilles wins the election on the first ballot, narrowly getting over 50% threshold to avoid a run off. For this to happen, Antilles wins over most of his Core Faction senators, with Palpatine and Teem splitting the remaining votes of the other Outer Rim senators and independents. I can imagine Palpatine getting frustrated with this result but it would not necessarily mean game over for the Sith Lord. Palpatine would be polite and gracious in defeat. However, knowing what Palpatine is really like, I expect he would try and get into Antilles inner circle, whilst simultaneously manipulating him into doing his bidding. It’s possible that Palpatine would run for the Vice Chair at some point in this scenario, which would allow him to gain extra influence on Senate affairs.

Most of the background to Bail Antilles can be found in the Legends book by author James Luceno Star Wars: Cloak of Deception. Antilles was a member of the House of Antilles from Alderaan. He was a typical bureaucrat, from the same cloth as Valorum, but what made him different from his predecessor was that he was not particularly friendly towards the Trade Federation. Antilles would have likely formed a investigative committee, the same as Valorum proposed, to determine the truth about Naboo. But knowing what Antilles was really like, he probably would have filled it with various anti-corruption senators, Trade Federation opponents and members from the Naboo senatorial delegation. This would have revealed that Queen Amidala’s concerns were truthful and so the Antilles led Republic would most likely respond with sanctions on the Trade Federation.

This approach, however, would have not solved the Naboo crisis and the senate would still be deadlocked. So, with the Trade Federation occupation on Naboo still in place – there would be more calls for Queen Amidala to sign a peace treaty with the Federation, to end the crisis, or simply start a revolt (like we saw in Episode I). With the help from the Jedi and Senator Palpatine, I believe the Naboo war would still take place, although at slightly later date than in Legends/Canon.

In theory, I don’t think Antilles would have survived long as Chancellor, perhaps only lasting one term, and he would eventually suffer the same fate as Valorum. In particular, the Separatist Crisis would have been difficult to control for a Core World chancellor. I suspect that Palpatine would try and run again for chancellor, maybe even using an assassination attempt on Antilles – if the Alderaanian became too popular or too interfering in Palpatine’s political life.

So in conclusion, what would an Antilles led Republic look like? Answer: Not much different from Valorum’s Republic. The Antilles leadership would probably not alter the Star Wars Canon or Legends timelines too much apart from delaying the Battle of Naboo and the blowback from that, could be an earlier start to the Separatist Crisis. Palpatine would still become chancellor after Antilles, with the controversial Clone Wars and the emergence of the New Order occurring roughly at the same time as in Legends/Canon. The impact of the Separatist Crisis would make the Senate vote for an independent candidate, a compromise, and Palpatine would still very much fit that bill for them.

Fun Fact: Bail Antilles was played by Irish actor Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty fans!) in Episode I, but his ten second clip was deleted from the final edit.