History Main / ElectiveMonarchy

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In Naboo's democratic monarchy, the ruler is elected and even has term limits. In practice it functions like a republic, just one that grants its presidents the trappings of royalty. According to ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', the term limit was introduced after the reign of the notoriously corrupt Ars Veruna (Amidala's immediate predecessor). ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' also has it that the elected leaders of cities on Naboo are "princes" and "princesses" rather than mayors. Before being elected queen, Padme Amidala was Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': As Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3600/fc03562.htm explains,]] when his homeland's throne is vacant, the royal family (formed by adopting promising new sqids since they die after reproducing [[note]]this only applies the very small portion of sqids capable of reproduction, Sam and most of his species is sterile. Likely an adaptation to overcome similar trap (in terms of forming a civilization) that Earth octopi are in, they can't guide/teach next generation because reproduction results in death.[[/note]]) elects one of their own to fill it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the local ConMan and self-proclaimed King of Ooo rallies the gullible citizens of the Candy Kingdom to vote for him to replace their [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld only ever monarch]], Princess Bubblegum. She, in turn, ignores all of this, content with her HundredPercentAdorationRating. [[spoiler: She loses in a landslide and is exiled to a dingy shack on the outskirts of her former territory. Of course, since said King turns out to be a terrible ruler, she soon regained her crown.]]

* The Islamic Republic of UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} is effectively a monarchy, but not because it is an HereditaryRepublic. It has presidents, who have terms and are elected by the people just fine, but the presidents only have as much power as the Supreme Leader dictates. The Supreme Leader is also elected, not by the people but by the Assembly of Experts, and while the office is not hereditary, the Supreme Leader serves for life. The Supreme Leader also happens to be a high-ranking religious leader, making the country very much like the Vatican City in being a theocratic absolute monarchy.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': As Sam [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3600/fc03562.htm explains,]] when his homeland's throne is vacant, the royal family (formed by adopting promising new sqids since they die after reproducing) elects one of their own to fill it.

* UsefulNotes/{{Oman}} experienced something to this effect when Sultan Qaboos, who ruled the country from 1970 to 2020, died without naming an heir (Qaboos never married or had children, and was rumored to be gay). A council was assembled and elected Qaboos' cousin Haitham as sultan, and Haitham subsequently changed Oman's ambiguous succession so the current king's eldest son will automatically become Crown Prince. Thus, Haitham's son Theyazin is now his clear successor.

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}ic World, the Caliphs, successors to Muhammad, were originally elected by consensus of the community. The first four Caliphs, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate Rashidun Caliphate]] were elected in this fashion as Sunni Muslims believed Muhammad had originally intended (thus creating a schism between themselves and Shia Muslims, who believed it should be hereditary) before Muawiyah, the fifth caliph,[[note]]Note that, contrary to popular perception, Muhammad himself was ''not'' a caliph; the very word caliph means "successor" in Arabic, in this case referring to the successors of Muhammad, who had no official title aside from being the Last Prophet.[[/note]] [[AvertedTrope averted]] this trope and turned the Caliphate into what is known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Caliphate Umayyad Dynasty]], a hereditary monarchy.

* UsefulNotes/{{Oman}} experienced something to this effect when Sultan Qaboos, who ruled the country from 1970 to 2020, died without naming an heir (Qaboos never married or had children, and was rumored to be gay). A council was assembled and elected Qaboos' cousin Haitham as heir, and Haitham subsequently changed Oman's ambiguous succession so the current king's eldest son will automatically become Crown Prince. Thus, Haitham's son Theyazin is now his clear successor.
* The Kingdom of Hawai'i had the king's choice of heir confirmed by a council of nobles and later parliament. When the House of Kamahameha failed, the noble chosen by parliament called for a referendum to confirm it.

** Incidentally all German kings/emperors can be placed into a single [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_the_German_monarchs family tree]], not that it is a particularly readable or simple one, but still all of them from Charlemagne to Wilhelm II were more or less related to each other. This includes [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]], who married a Habsburg princess.
* The United Arab Emirates, in theory at any rate: although the President is supposedly elected by the rulers of the seven emirates of the UAE, it's always the Emir of Abu Dhabi who holds the position of President, and the President always appoints the Emir of Dubai Prime Minister (unless the Emir of Dubai doesn't want/can't take the job, in which case his heir apparent takes it).
* In Denmark, the kings were elected from at least the Viking age until 1660. With a single exception all kings (and one woman, Queen Margrethe I, titled "Principal Lady and Husband of the North") came from the same family though, even if some spring around in the family tree were needed now and then. But it kept on, so today ruling queen Margrethe II can look back on a millennium-old family tree of Danish kings.
* In the same vein, Sweden elected its kings until the end of the 15th century, and all free men could vote. Of course, vote for the wrong candidate and you get your teeth kicked in, but hey, it's the thought that counts.

* The medieval kings of Norway were likewise elected. The kings had to be recognized by the ruling body of nobles (Riksrådet) before being crowned. Before that, the commons, most often the farmers, had to recognize the kings at an open assembly. Historians are at odds on how this exactly worked when Denmark and Norway became a union, as Norwegians claim that ''they'' elected their kings, while Denmark was hereditary. The status for the union kings until 1660 was therefore: Crowned in Denmark and "elected" in Norway. Absolutism made an end to that mess.

* The King of Saudi Arabia is also technically elected. Technically, because of two caveats:

* The Mongols traditionally elected a Great Khan by and from among the Khans, who were more-or-less lords without landed estates because of the whole "nomad" thing. This is in fact what "Genghis" means-that "Great Khan"'s real name was Temujin.

** The Roman Empire effectively transitioned from HereditaryRepublic into this trope from the reign of Augustus onwards with no clear point in time during which a contemporary could say the transition had taken place, with the Emperor being formally elected by the Senate (and, at the start, ''technically'' holding no power but the military one, with the Emperor's political power deriving from the ''other'' offices he was elected to again and again). Only very few emperors were "born to the purple" (i.e. presumptive heir upon birth or childhood) as the Julio-Claudian dynasty never had a straightforward father-son transition, the Flavian dynasty came to power when Vespasian's sons were already men and the "five good emperors" Nerva to Marcus Aurelius had no biological children bar the last one. It says a lot for the little regard the Romans held for the dynastic principle that the fact Marcus Aurelius (after exhausting other choices) made his son emperor (who did turn out a terrible ruler) is often seen as an incredible faux-pas and the beginning of the end. Most Emperors did however make their desired heir "co-emperor" during their lifetime and the savier ones tried to get them a military command and have the senate rubber stamp the appointment to have two of the three bases of power (the third being the urban masses in Rome, who started making their will known through the deposition and execution of Nero) in their corner from the get-go.
** The Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) initially continued with the old system, complete with their own Senate in Constantinople, though they eventually managed to make the office mostly dynastic - thus diminishing the civil wars that had destroyed the Western Roman Army and led to the Western Empire's fall. The Senate however maintained its formal authority, with their last known act being ''deposing co-emperors Isaac II and Alexius IV and elect Nikolaos Kanabos as new Emperor'' (against his will, prompting him to run in the Hagia Sophia and paving the way for Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos, the one who effectively deposed the co-emperors, to rise to the throne). The throne finally became fully dynastic by the 14th century with the dissolution of the Senate, as the actual electoral body had disappeared.
* Andorra is an odd example. It is ruled by two co-princes (technically making it a diarchy rather than a monarchy). One of them used to be the King of France but after the French Revolution the position has been held by the President of France, an elected official, though elected by citizens of France rather than Andorra. The other, the Bishop of Urgell (in Spain) is (being a Catholic bishop) ultimately appointed by the Pope (in a complicated process also involving the local archbishop, the Roman Curia, and the Apostolic Nuncio--i.e. Vatican Ambassador--to the country).
* The King of the Belgians nominates his heir, but Parliament must confirm, and may choose another member of the royal family.
* In Kuwait, the Emir appoints with the advice and consent of the National Assembly, a "Crown Prince and Deputy Emir", who is a member of the Al Sabah Clan, but not someone in his immediate family. The last Emir hadn't bothered to appoint anyone else after his successor fell ill--too ill to become Emir--so when he died the Assembly passed him over for another relative.

** One of the states, Negeri Sembilan [[note]]Coincidentally, the name means "Nine States", as it is traditionally divided into nine chiefdoms[[/note]] is an elective monarchy itself. The ruler, Yang di-Pertuan Besar, is chosen from the princes of the royal family by a council of chiefs. Negeri Sembilan's elective monarchy long predates that of Malaysia's (it was brought by the Minangkabau when they immigrated to Malaya from their homeland in Sumatra circa the 15th century), and actually inspired the first Prime Minister of Malaysia to institute the country's current elective monarchy following its independence from the United Kingdom.

* The Dalai Lama ruled Tibet both as part of the Qing dynasty and as a de facto/de jure (depends on who you ask) independent Kingdom. The Dalai Lama is the highest-ranking religious leader of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism and considered the manifestation or Avatar of the Buddha Avalokitesvara, a Boddhisatva, thus his selection is made as a child after a series of rituals and studies to verify if he or she is indeed the rebirth of the previous one. Thus, they're in practice elected by high-ranking lamas.

* The King of Cambodia is elected by a council, even if there is a successor available, though the succession is limited to the two royal families.

* Malaysia:

** One of the states, Negeri Sembilan [[note]]Coincidentally, the name means "Nine States", as it is traditionally divided into nine chiefdoms[[/note]] is an elective monarchy itself. The ruler is chosen from the princes of the royal family by a council of chiefs.

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}ic World, the Caliphs, successors to Muhammad, were originally elected by consensus of the community. The first four Caliphs, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate Rashidun Caliphate]] were elected in this fashion as Sunni Muslims believed Muhammad had originally intended[[note]]The schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims originated as a disagreement over how Muhammad had intended the Caliph to be selected, with the Shia believing it should be hereditary.[[/note]] before Muawiyah, the sixth caliph, [[AvertedTrope averted]] this trope and turned the Caliphate into what is known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Caliphate Umayyad Dynasty]], a hereditary monarchy.

* UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire effectively practiced this, the emperors being elected by the will of the Senate, the Army, and the people. Its inability to formalize the matter helped contribute to its fall. The Byzantine/ Eastern Roman Empire managed to make it mostly dynastic, which stabilized it from the situation where anyone could be emperor.
** The Romans did it even when they were ruled by kings, in a rather complicated way: once the reigning king was dead, the Senate would nominate an ''interrex'' (king ad interim) for five days (after which he had to name a successor with the Senate's approval), who would choose a candidate for kingship and present it to the Senate for approval; if the Senate approved, the nominee would be brought before the Curiate Assembly (the assembly of ''all'' Roman citizens, even if only patricians could actually vote), presided over by the ''interrex'' for the occasion, for approval; if the Curiate Assembly approved, the nominee became king, but, the king also being the high priest, an augur (a priest tasked with interpreting the will of the gods by observing the flight of birds) would have to give his own approval; ''if'' the augur announced that the gods approved, the king was finally king, but to actually have the power he would have to summon the Curiate Assembly and propose a law in which he was given the ''imperium'' (absolute power), and if the bill passed he would ''finally'' be the king.
*** According to legend, they ''still'' managed to screw this up (first the sixth legendary king Servius Tullius skipped part of the process and, in spite of being a good king, was murdered in the Senate by his son-in-law for this, and then said son-in-law, Tarquinius Superbus, seized the throne but managed to piss off the people and barely escaped Rome with his life), so at one point they took away all power but ''part'' of the religious one, with the annual ceremony ''Regifugum'' (Flight of the King) having the king (now called ''rex sacrorum'', king of sacrifices) interpreting Tarquinius Superbus' part as he was deposed and forced to run for his life to make sure he won't have funny ideas.
** The Roman Empire effectively transitioned from HereditaryRepublic into this trope from the reign of Augustus onwards with no clear point in time during which a contemporary could say the transition had taken place. Only very few emperors were "born to the purple" (i.e. presumptive heir upon birth or childhood) as the Julio-Claudian dynasty never had a straightforward father-son transition, the Flavian dynasty came to power when Vespasian's sons were already men and the "five good emperors" Nerva to Marcus Aurelius had no biological children bar the last one. It says a lot for the little regard the Romans held for the dynastic principle that the fact Marcus Auerlius made his son emperor (who did turn out a terrible ruler) is often seen as an incredible faux-pas and the beginning of the end. Most Emperors did however make their desired heir "co-emperor" during their lifetime and the savier ones tried to get them a military command and have the senate rubber stamp the appointment to have two of the three bases of power (the third being the urban masses in Rome) in their corner from the get-go.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': The position of Kage is this. They are chosen by a council consisting of senior statesmen and the feudal lord of their respective countries, but they serve for life, unless they voluntarily abdicate; the position runs on some level of AsskickingEqualsAuthority and allows an aging Kage to step down when a younger powerful Shinobi comes along who can take up the mantle, and allows the now retired Kage to step back into the role should anything untoward happen to their successor, like the 3rd Hokage had to.

* UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons were this, sort of. The Witenagemot, "council of wise men," was a council of the most important nobles and bishops in the kingdom, and they were the ones who had the final say on who among the king's elgigible heirs would ascend the throne. This has been exaggerated by patriotic Englishmen who wanted to emphasize the Saxons' democratic virtues; all sorts of criteria could interfere, including the will of the previous monarch and sometimes simply AsskickingEqualsAuthority. As often as not, the Witenagemot would simply rubber-stamp the king's eldest son or chosen heir. Nonetheless it was something of an elective monarchy.

** In the current Italian constitution, the President of the Republic has effectively all the powers the king used to have (up to include being protected by a ''lèse-majesté'' law) but is elected by the Parliament in a joint session, plus the delegates of the regions, for a seven years term. There's no legal limit to the number of terms a President can serve, but in practice they traditionally serve only one.[[note]]The eleventh, Giorgio Napolitano, is the only one who has ever served twice, but had to be candidated by others that feared the political instability at the time would deadlock the election of any other candidate, and he only accepted to run, and was promptly elected, after the ''fifth'' ballot failed to produce a President. He would then resign in 2015 due to his advanced age.[[/note]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PrincessNatasha'', King Lubek was voted off the throne by the citizens of Zoravia, and his brother Karl OfferedTheCrown instead.

* The King of UsefulNotes/VaticanCity, better known as [[UsefulNotes/ThePope the Roman Catholic Pope]]. Aside from being the head of the Catholic Church, he is the last absolute monarch in Europe and one of the last in the world. He is elected by a group of cardinals from among their number,[[note]]Technically they can choose any celibate Catholic man as Pope (though a layman would have to be elevated to deacon, then priest before enthronement). In practice, but for rare exceptions, only cardinals have been elected for over a thousand years.[[/note]] hereditary monarchy being a rather difficult proposition for celibate Catholic clergy.[[note]]Not that it stopped some from trying by arranging for their nephews to succeed them. That's how the Catholic Church became the TropeNamer for {{Nepotism}}. There's also at least one suspected case of a Pope being succeeded by his illegitimate son, since the requirement of celibacy wasn't always actually obeyed.[[/note]] And in 2013, the Pope Emeritus Ratzinger (formerly Pope Benedict XVI) proved that the office isn't necessarily for life. While papal resignation had been on the books of Catholic Canon Law for as long as the records go back, it had been nearly 600 years since the last time a Pope had done so and over 700 years since a Pope had resigned [[TheCoup willingly rather than at the point of a sword]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': The position of Kage is this. They are chosen by a council consisting of senior statesmen and the feudal lord of their respective countries, but they serve for life, unless they voluntarily abdicate.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':

** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': King Viserys is chosen to succeed his grandfather Jaehaerys by a Great Council of over a thousand lords of Westeros in Harrenhal. There were initially 14 successions claims, whittled down to two (Viserys and Rhaenys). Though the final choice --Viserys-- turned out to be motivated by HeirClubForMen.

** Just as in [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]], the Ironborn and the wildlings elect their kings. The Ironborn are the ''only'' one of the Seven Kingdoms that, back when they were independent, chose their own rulers through a form of limited democracy. The wildlings also elect their king, however he only holds power so long as the wildlings choose to follow him, and there are always holdouts like Craster. There is no sign yet of whether Pentos elects a prince too. In regards to the Ironborn, all of the lords and ship captains gather together at an assembly known as a "kingsmoot", where anyone can present themself as a candidate, not just the previous king's family. Candidates give stump speeches, and whoever wins over the crowd to get the most votes becomes the new king. They revive this after declaring independence again during the War of the Five Kings (though according to the "Histories and Lore" extras of Season 6, in the intervening period when their ruler was just a "lord paramount" under the Targaryens and Baratheons, the kingsmoot still existed but only as a formality, always "choosing" the eldest Greyjoy heir). The only other group in Westeros that has formal elections like this is the Night's Watch. The Watch is even more democratic, with literally ''every'' member getting to cast a vote — though that isn't really a fair comparison, given that while the Watch does control territory and castles they're not really a "kingdom" but a monastic knightly order.
** Robb of House Stark is acclaimed King in the North by his bannermen and the riverlords of the Trident. As it turns out, what the bannermen give, the bannermen can take away just as easily. This also happens with his successor Jon Snow.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Tyrion Lannister, in his speech nominating Bran Stark to be king of the Seven Kingdoms, further pronounces that from then on, the king would be chosen by the "great lords and ladies" of Westeros rather than by inheritance.]] As it’s the finale, we don’t get to see how this works out in the long run.

** The Dwarfs do something a bit different. Each individual [[ElaborateUndergroundBase Hold]]has a hereditary monarchy, passed down the royal line of the ruling clan. The position of High King, however, is available to all royalty. Instead of merely voting on a successor, though, they compete for it. When a Council of Kings is called, powerful Thanes and the entire royal families of every clan convene in the capital of Karaz-a-Karak. The candidates have one year to perform heroic feets and great deeds, and a Council of Elders chooses the High King based on who they believe accomplished the most.

* The Kingdom of Rhodoks in ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' games. As one of your followers notes, even though Rhodok citizens [[CulturalPosturing consider themselves superior to the other lands of Calradia]] due to having a more civilised means of government, in practise they still have a ruling elite of lords and a downtrodden peasant class, same as all the other kingdoms.

* Part of ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'''s premise involve the King putting his successor to ''universal suffrage'', selecting among his nine children.
* Similarly, in ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'' the Abh Empire is ruled by the eight hereditary Royal families descended from the heads of the original Abh clans, who elect the Emperor among themselves through a complicated procedure that involves designating the several prospective Heirs Presumptive from different clans and then judging [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething their progress through ranks]][[note]]as the heir has to be an actual serving military officer — a Supreme Commander, to be precise[[/note]] by the council of the retired Emperors, until one achieves the top and is designated the Crown Prince or Princess. In the current historical period the power is for several generations remains in the Dubleuscr branch of the Abliarsec clan, the current Empress being the Lamhirh's grandmother, and her father Heir Presumptive (the current Crown Prince is a King from a different branch, though).

* King Fergus from ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' was originally just the head of Clan Dunbroch, one of four Highland clans that [[FeudingFamilies had fought for centuries]], only to be the one to [[EnemyMine unite them all to fight back against Northern invaders]]. When they won the war, the other three clans chose to make Fergus their king and his family the royal family.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Naboo's democratic monarchy, in which the ruler is elected and even has term limits. It seems more like a republic, just one that grants their presidents the trappings of royalty. [[EpilepticTrees One might speculate]] that perhaps it was once a regular monarchy which the government slowly watered down into a non-hereditary, limited-time position.
** According to ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', that's exactly what happened, with the term limit being introduced after the reign of the notoriously corrupt Ars Veruna (Amidala's immediate predecessor). ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' also indicated that the elected leaders of cities on Naboo are "princes" and "princesses" rather than mayors. Before being elected queen, Padme Amidala was Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital.

* The Dalai Lama ruled Tibet both as part of the Qing dynasty and as a de facto/de jure (depends on who you ask) independent Kingdom. The Dalai Lama is the highest ranking religious leader of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism and consider the manifestation or Avatar of the Buddha Avalokitesvara, a Boddhisatva, thus his selection is made as a child after a series of rituals and studies to verify if he or she is indeed the rebirth of the previous one. Thus, is in practice elected by high ranking lamas.

* King Fergus from ''WesternAnimation/Brave'' was originally just the head of Clan Dunbroch, one of four Highland clans that [[FeudingFamilies had fought for centuries]], only to be the one to [[EnemyMine unite them all to fight back against Northern invaders]]. When they won the war, the other three clans chose to make Fergus their king and his family the royal family.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Naboo's democratic monarchy, in which the ruler is elected and even has term limits. It seems more like a republic, just one that grants their presidents the trappings of royalty. [[EpilepticTrees One might speculate]] that perhaps it was once a regular monarchy which the government slowly watered down into a non-hereditary, limited-time position.
** According to ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', that's exactly what happened, with the term limit being introduced after the reign of the notoriously corrupt Ars Veruna (Amidala's immediate predecessor). ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' also indicated that the elected leaders of cities on Naboo are "princes" and "princesses" rather than mayors. Before being elected queen, Padme Amidala was Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital.
* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': The Pirate King is elected by the nine pirate lords; there have been very few kings because the lords tend to just vote for themselves. [[spoiler: Jack surprises everyone by voting for Elizabeth, giving her two votes to everyone else's one.]]

* ''{{Film/Ophelia}}'': As in both the play and [[TruthInTelevision reality when it's set]], Danish kings are chosen by the nobles. Thus, rather than Hamlet succeeding his father, the nobles choose his uncle Claudius, something Hamlet's very unhappy with.