Surprisingly, they have a lot in common.
Starting from the beginning of the 14th century, Polish kings were elected; originally by a narrow group of aristocrats. Gradually that system, which lasted almost 500 years, evolved into a general election in which every hereditary noble voted. Selection of candidates – and the elections themselves – were just as messy, and brought equally mixed results, as presidential elections in the U.S. There was one meaningful difference: Poles encouraged foreigners to run, and elected some.
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