User:Ifly6/Elections in the Roman Republic
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Elections in the Roman Republic
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In the Roman republic, elections were held for every major magistracy annually and were "one of the cornerstones of Roman republican government".[4] Elections were conducted before two assemblies (Latin: comitia): the centuriate and tribal assemblies. The centuriate assembly, made up of centuries divided by wealth and age, elected the senior magistrates: those with imperium (the consuls and the praetors) and the censors. The tribal assembly, made up of tribes grouped by geography or inherited, elected all other magistrates. Plebeian tribunes and aediles were also elected by the tribal assembly.
The formal electoral process started with an announcement by the prospective presiding magistrate of an election day, typically in July. Candidates, which had to be of the upper census class of equites, then professed their candidacy to that magistrate. On the day of the election, the voting unit – centuries or tribes – would be called in an order to give their votes. Citizens voted in person for their candidate and the unit registered one vote for each open post (eg for the two consuls a century would vote for two candidates). Once a candidate received a majority, 97 centuries or 18 tribes, he won and was removed from the contest. Once all posts were filled, elections ended and all centuries or tribes that had not voted were immediately dismissed. If nightfall came before elections were completed, the entire process had to restart, typically on the next legislative day.
There were no political parties in the republic. Candidates campaigned largely on their own personal virtue, personal or family reputation, or gifts distributed to voters. Reflecting the unpredictability of elections, bribes given to voters in the form of money, food, and games were a common and burdensome campaign expense. Regardless, those with a family reputation in politics (ie the nobiles) – and a family name that could be recognised by the voters – regularly dominated electoral results.
Roman elections, while extremely important for political life because no legislation could be passed without the initiative of a magistrate, were not representative of the citizenry. The malapportionment of the comitia centuriata weighted the 193 centuries, each of which received one vote, strongly towards the old and rich. The comitia tributa gave each of the 35 tribes, which was not divided explicitly on wealth, the same vote; however, because all public affairs were conducted in person, poorer people from the countryside unable to take the time off to travel to Rome were unable to exercise their rights. Moreover, while all freedmen became citizens when manumitted, they were all confined to the four "urban" tribes. Scholars have estimated, from the size of the voting spaces, that between 30,000 and 70,000 citizens could have participated; and in the late republic, no more than 12 per cent of citizens could have participated.[5]
After the fall of the republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire, elections – throughly dominated by the emperor's influence – initially continued. However, during the reign of Tiberius, the power of nomination was transferred to the senate. Then on, with a short interlude under Caligula, all magistrates were nominated in a list that was then confirmed pro forma by an assembly. Over time, this too was abolished. Elections at the municipal level, conducted under bylaws which were generally modelled on the republican constitution, however continued.