I've got an idea buzzing around in my head for a possible Late Republic scenario that I am certain is at least highly implausible and possibly outright impossible (my gut instinct is that this can't work). However, before I drop the issue, I wanted to run it by a few people in case I missed anything.
The core premise is that, after having defeated Pompey, instead of having himself named dictator for life, Caesar instead chose to have himself named dictator for the duration of the next consular elections (in which he would run).
At this point, his popular support was significant enough that he was almost certain to win such an election and the general consensus seems to be that he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about a military coup in the first place, so I tend to think it's just barely plausible that he might prefer the extra layer of legitimacy of regular elections as opposed to an office as historically troubled as dictator (see Sulla).
The main issue here is whether or not this could be done (mostly) legally because if he has to force the issue, then there is no functional difference between this scenario and OTL.
So, assuming Caesar, for whatever reason (I can think of a few, but that's immaterial for now), becomes convinced that the above (subject to a great deal of tweaking) is the best course of action, could he have pulled something like this off? Mind you, he's an old man at this point, so he doesn't need to win as many elections as you might think to remain in power until death.
Oh, and I also need to think of how best to deal with the large, Egypt-shaped hole in this plan if this has any chance of going somewhere.
So, is there anything to this idea, or am I better off dropping it?