The twelve Colonies of Kobol united only a few decades before the first Cylon wars. After the Cylons reduced humanity to a small fleet of about 50,000 scurrying from system to system in a desperate search to stay alive and find Earth, the presidency fell, by way of legal sucession, to the Minister of Education. A Quorum of Twelve (one representative from each colony) is set up as a legislative body.
To continue, through the medium of spoilers:
Though humanity's leaders are generally our heroes in the show, the government of Battlestar Galactica is far from representative. President Laura Roslin was never elected to her position, and her personal feelings for Admiral Adama frequently cloud her military judgements. She and a few trusted advisors almost went through with rigging the first presidential election in her favor, and it turns out they should have, because her sucessor surrendered humanity to the Cylons. The twelve members of the Quorum represent colonies that don't exist anymore. The few surviving military personell have no time to train replacements, even if there were enough qualified candidates, and so they work constantly. Daycare is scarce, and so children often go to work with their families, leading the fleet's society, as some have pointed out, towards feudalism.
So say we all.
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