Election Process of the Doge of Venice

The election of the Doge of Venice involved a complex procedure aimed at preventing corruption. It began with the Great Council of Venice, comprised of noble families. Thirty members were randomly selected from this council, followed by nine of those thirty. This group chose forty members, from which twelve were randomly selected. Those twelve then chose twenty-five, which were reduced to nine. These nine selected forty-five more, and from those, eleven were randomly picked. The eleven chose forty-one members who finally voted for the Doge. Each noble family was restricted to one member in each group, and a significant majority was required for all decisions.