Royal elections in Poland

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Royal elections in Poland (Polish: wolna elekcja, lit. 'free election') were the election of individual monarchs, rather than dynasties, to the Polish throne. Based on legendary traditions dating to the beginning of the Polish statehood, they became the official procedure in choosing a monarch, following the death of the last hereditary monarch, Queen Jadwiga Anjou, in 1399. The electoral system was in use throughout the entire Jagiellonian dynasty and reached its final form in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth period between 1572 and 1791. The royal election system was briefly abolished by the Constitution of 3 May 1791 (which established a constitutional-parliamentary hereditary monarchy) before being revoked in 1793.

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