How the Republic of Venice Chose Its Doge: Lot-Based Elections and Supermajority Rule

Abstract

We study a family of voting rules inspired by the peculiar protocol used for over 500 years by the Republic of Venice to elect its Doge. Such lot-based indirect elections have two main features: a pool of delegates is chosen by lot out of a general assembly, and then they vote in a single winner election with qualified majority. Under the assumption that the assembly is divided in two factions, we characterise the win probability of the minority and study how it varies with the electoral college size and the winning threshold. We argue that these features promoted a more equitable allocation of political representation and thus may have contributed to the political stability of the Republic of Venice.

It’s a Doges’ Life: Examining Term Limits in Venetian Doges Life Tenure

“…Many explanations have been sought for this fact, and of course the governing institutions have been examined, including the head of government, the so called doge (doxe in the vernacular Veneto language; the term is approximately equivalent to "duke" in other languages). During the longest period, doges were elected for life by an electoral college composed of 41 nobles, which were also elected through a series of lotteries and nominations emanating from the Maggior Consiglio, which included all noble families in Venice Molinari (2020).…”