Influence
The elections played a major role in curtailing the power of the monarch, and thus were a significant factor in preventing the rise of an absolute monarchy (and thus, a strong executive) in the Commonwealth. Most tellingly, one of the provisions of the pacta conventa included the right of revolution (rokosz) for the nobility, if they deemed that the king is not adhering to the laws of the state.
While seemingly introducing a very democratic procedure, in practice the free elections contributed to the inefficiency of the Commonwealth's government. The elections, open to all nobility, meant that magnates, who could exert significant control on the masses of poorer nobility, could exert much influence over the elections. The elections also encouraged foreign dynasties' meddling in Polish internal politics. On several occasions, where the magnates could not come to an agreement, two candidates would proclaim themselves the king and civil wars erupted (most notably, the War of the Polish Succession of 1733–1738, and the War of the Polish Succession of 1587–1588, with smaller scale conflicts in 1576 and 1697). By the last years of the Commonwealth, the royal elections grew to be seen as a source of conflicts and instability; Lerski describes them as having "became a symbol of anarchy".
Read more about this topic: Royal Elections In Poland
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