Remember that Rome was named after Romulus who was not elected by people. He elected peopleHe built a city, killed his brother, and got all vagabonds, rapists, murderers and other scum, and became king. If you ask today, anyone would say that Romans are Romulus' people. King Dutugemunu warred against Elara, to save his people. Dutugemunu wasn't elected democratically.
And they probably wrote the history books too