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An elective monarchy is a monarchy whose reigning king or queen
is elected in some form.
The Holy Roman Empire was a historical example of this, in
which the Emperor was elected by a small council of nobles.
In Poland, after the death of the last Piast
in 1370, Polish Kings were initially elected by a small council; gradually, this privilege was granted to the all members of the
gentry. Kings of Poland during the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795) were elected by gatherings of crowds of nobles at a field in the neighbourhood of Warsaw. Every one of an estimated 500,000 nobles could potentially have participated in such
elections in person.
At the start of the 20th century, several monarchs of newly-independent
nations were elected by parliaments. Without a well-established hereditary royal family, new nations often chose their own monarchs from among the foreign or domestic nobility, in the
hope that a stable hereditary monarchy would eventually
emerge from the process. The now-defunct royal families of Finland and Germany were originally appointed in this manner.
Other monarchs, such as the Shah of Iran, have been required to undergo
a parliamentary vote of approval before being allowed to ascend to the throne.
In Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is selected to a 5-year term from a small group of local hereditary rulers
using a system of rotation, originally based on seniority, and varied by a council.
Currently, the world's only truly "elective monarchy" is in the Vatican
City, where the Pope is elected to a life term by (and usually from) the College of Cardinals.
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