Enter government initially as representative (5)
I believe the answer is:
going
'representative' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'enter government initially' is the wordplay.
'enter' becomes 'goin' (synonyms).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'government' is 'g'.
'goin'+'g'='GOING'
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for going that I've seen before include "attending" , "Due to leave" , "Ground condition for horse racing" , "(Of price) current" , "Surface condition (that may get tough!)" .)