Elections limit the power of dictatorships and other types of authoritarian goverments such as those run by oligarchies. Power in authoritarian regimes arises from God, from military power, etc. Instead, elections bring a legitimate goverment which arises from the will of the citizens who live in a certain country or state.
Elections are compatible with both constitutional monarchies and republics. In these types of state suffrage is used to elect the state powers (legislative, exeutive and judicial) but, apart from these three, there is also a representative called the 'Head of the State' (the king in the monarchy and the president in a republic) whose power nowadays is limited to supervise and ratify the decisions of the 3 main powers of the State: Â Parliament, the Executive power (Goverment) and the judges.
