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Emperor Palpatine is what Senator Palpatine becomes. Darth Sidious.
I believe he was named as such in the original Star Wars book back in the late 70's. When I was watching the movie, and they said his name, a loud ding went off in my head. Palpatine is named as such in Return of the Jedi.
Electing a king is a little unusual, but has precedent. The Brits used to do something similar a very long time ago when they would elect a 'Bretwelda' (spelling?). Sort of a chief of chiefs.
A southeast-asian nation still does this, but I can't recall what happened to the last guy elected. I seem to recall a revolution, and a counter-revolution, and an arrest.
Probably this was Burma/Myanmar. But it may've been Thailand or Cambodia. I'll think about it, or look it up if you like. Maybe I'm thinking of Sihanouk, but I'm not sure.
Additionally, Conrad I and II of Germany were elected kings with some other guys in between. Conrad I was 911 AD, Conrad II was 1024 AD. Early german tribes elected their kings as well before the Romans got ahold of them.
In fact, on this date in 1587 Sigismund III was elected King of Poland and he tried to create a union between Sweden and Poland.
Naturally these elections did not include the general populace in a modern democratic fashion. Only the powerful (barons and whatnot) would be polled. And sometimes there was only one candidate. The practice of making it a birthright wasn't always in place everywhere.
Some elected kings would serve for a period and then have to go through another election. Until their country settled on a birthright.
The title Phantom Menace refers to a 'false' menace that is used to give Palpatine a prybar to go after more power. A phantom of Palpatine's own devising. From his perspective the planetary situation could've gone just about any way and he would've been able to use it to get more power.
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