Chairman of Aurora was the title given to the closest thing the Aurorans had to a chief executive. Officially, when the government was established, the Chairman was only given ceremonial power, such as greeting offword dignitaries, opening the meetings of the Legislature, and the right to vote in case of a tie.
However, after a dispute over proper division of hydroelectric energy almost led the planet to a civil war, the matters changed. In order to prevent another such event, it became customary to settle any disputes before the official voting, in closed meetings, with the Chairman being a key figure, still with zero power officially, but considerable power in practice. The Chairman was the one entrusted to lead such meetings, attempt to make the sides reach a compromise, and, in case that failed, recommend the Legislature how to vote. A chance to gather any significant number of votes against a Chairman's recommendation was effectively zero, since the general vote going aganist said recommendation meant the Chairman's resignation and a governmental crisis.
The price of that power was a requirement of complete neutrality. A Chairman was considered to be above all parties and disputes, and his power only held for as long as he made the impression of being an utterly impartial and objective arbiter.
A Chairman was elected for a thirty-year term, with the possibility of being reelected to a second term. He was addressed only as "Mr. Chairman", with his name never used officially, to symbolize the continuity of the office. During the events of The Robots of Dawn, the position was held by Rutilan Horder, aged three hundred and thirty-one, a hard worker on his second term who got results. The Chairman during the events of Robots and Empire was considered to be a mere puppet to Kelden Amadiro.
The strain of the job tended to make the Chairmen irritable, cranky and ill-tempered, especially during the final years of their terms.