Surviving elective monoarchy?

Is it possible that we could get an "elective monoarchy" that is to say, a monoarchy where the king or emperor or whatever is elected and serves for life, in the modern world?
 
We already have one -- Malaysia.

Yes, but it's important to note that the Malay sultans only elect one of their number to a five year term, not for life. Plus, the election is pretty much a formality as they pretty much follow an order set by precedent which ensures that each state's sultan gets a turn. This order would probably be juggled if the prospective next incumbent was a minor or something but the situation hasn't arisen so far.

The Papacy is probably a better example.
 
Experimenting...

...Thought of the Bernadotte dynasty when in HMS Heligoland I have Maximilian von Baden dragooned by the SPD into becoming King of Germany. However, that's selecting a dynasty. Many nations select a President for life - Ireland's one of them. Just make President = constitutional monarch = figureHead of State.
 
Had there been no WW2, Hungary might have become an elective monarchy, since it was a monarchy without a monarch after WW1 with Horthy as Regent. After Horthys death, his position might have been replaced by an elective monarch.
 
Cambodia, although it is more selective then elective. The Privy Concil elects the next King based on who fulfills all of the criterion. I am not sure if the vote is unanimous however.
 
As was stated, the Papacy is an elective Monarchy.

A surviving HRE would be an elective monarchy, if you have no problem with the de facto hereditary Hapsburg Emperor. Of course, that problem can be solved with a stronger HRE before the rise of the Hapsburgs.
Poland-Lithuania also if you were able to avoid the Anarchy and disputes in the Sejm over the future King to be elected.

France remained a de jure elective monarchy during its early years. It was a de facto hereditary monarchy as the French King always had their eldest son elected as co-king, then crowned during their lifetime. This pratice started with the late Carolingians (Lothaire had his son Louis V elected as co-King, and I think Louis IV had done the same for him) and ended with Philip II Augustus. After him, French Royal Control was strong enough that there was no need for an elective monarchy, even de jure.
Keeping Royal Control weak, you might end up with a French elective monarchy rather than an hereditary one. But that's not easy to do without destroying France itself in my opinion.

Anglo-Saxon England also had an elective monarchy before William the Conqueror came in if I'm not wrong. Having Harold defeat William at Hastings could be a solution.

VictorLaszlo said:
Had there been no WW2, Hungary might have become an elective monarchy, since it was a monarchy without a monarch after WW1 with Horthy as Regent. After Horthys death, his position might have been replaced by an elective monarch.

Not sure. A Hapsburg restoration would seem more likely in that scenario in my opinion. Horthy might not have wished for the Hapsburg to come back (he feared the Little Entente would have declared war on Hungary if they did), but if there was to be a Monarchy, it probably would have been a Hapsbug one.Charles I of Austria/IV of Hungary was very popular among his people before he was overthrown.

At least, that's how I see this. But I'm no expert on Hungary nor on post-1900 history.
 
I think Poland-Lithuana would be your best bet. If you could somehow weaken Russia and allow P-L to rebuild and modernise you could see its continuation as a state, and its elective monarchy.

If you could keep it as a Prussian or Russian vassal, you still might be able to get away with it being elective; though the elections will definately be rigged. Probably your best shot at a European elective monarchy anyway.
 
Well, to be fair the swedish king has been elected every 3-4 years since 1921. Atleast once every term between election the left party puts a bill on the table to abolish the monarchy, it always fail.
 
Isn't the current British monarchy effectively elective?

I thought Parliament has to sign off on who is appointed the heir and whether that heir takes the throne. It's usually a formality but there is the example of Edward VIII in the modern period.
 
Isn't the current British monarchy effectively elective?

I thought Parliament has to sign off on who is appointed the heir and whether that heir takes the throne. It's usually a formality but there is the example of Edward VIII in the modern period.

No, it's effectively hereditary but technically elective.;)

Parliament has the right to change the succession, but they never have since inviting Sophia of Hanover and her heirs. IIRC, Parliament said back then, "male-preference primogeniture until and unless we say differently."
 
Well, it seems to depend a lot on the prestige of an elective monarchy.

To keep elective monarchies alive, we need a kingdom where this system works out really well. I has to convince the nobilities of other countries of "Wow! That's a great system. I want that as well!"

But ever since the High Middle Ages, monarchs from all of Europe have leered at France murmuring "That's a great system. I want that as well!"

And as it turned out, many of them managed to get (most) of the French system, and the elective countries tended to fall into succession crises.

(This was a brief summary of European history 800-1800.)


I think elective monarchy can become the standard case of a monarchy if one country establishes a really stable system that others want to copy. That pioneer needn't be the most powerful one; it may be the HRE, Hungary, a Nordic kingdom, Poland ...

There are a couple of problems to establish it - after all, it didn't work IOTL.
For instance, you need candidates who have the dignity to accept failure of their candidature, and princes that prove loyal to a king they voted against.

But if all that is working, we might have an early "constitutionaloid" monarchy -
similar to an England without the House of Commons.




And when monarchies are turned into nostalgic decor for modern states as IOTL, then the most frequent form of succession has good changes of surviving.


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Sweden had an elective monarchy for quite some time - until Gustav Eriksson (Wasa) made it heraditary. However, the Riksdag deposed Erik XIV, Sigismund I, crown prince Fredrik and Gustav IV Adolf - so it was almost elective anyway.
 
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