History Main / EasilyElected

* ''ComicBook/Prez2015'': In a CrapsackWorld set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, a teenager named Beth Ross becomes a popular write-in candidate for the Presidential election after making a viral video. However, the two major parties end up maneuvering each other out of the running, meaning that to her horror Beth ends up elected President.

* ''Literature/TheTamuli'': Leaders in the Republic of Tega are ''forcibly'' elected -- candidates can't refuse nomination and are guarded to prevent escape. If elected, all their assets are converted into shares of the national treasury to encourage responsible rule. (At least reelection is illegal.)

* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', which has BigBad Ryo Aoki trying to invoke this trope with Bleach Japan leader Sota Kume in order to cement his own political credentials.

Almost always PlayedForLaughs, although it may appear in more serious works to highlight the [[WretchedHive poor state of the setting]] that causes it to lack any proper channels for establishing authority.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': While no election is shown, for whatever reason in the series finale “Phantom Planet” Tucker Foley becomes the new Mayor of Amity Park, despite having zero governing experience, was still in high school, and is not even old enough to vote himself.

Fiction tends to have rather lax ideas on how authority and leadership structures work. Just any people can [[WhatsUpKingDude come up to Fictionland's sovereign for a nice chat]], and their supposedly formal governmental bodies have little more structure [[MildlyMilitary than a group of friends hanging out in uniforms]]. Some stories, however, take things even further by having such a careless hierarchical system that any random civilian--or [[ExaggeratedTrope even]] non-citizens, animals, and/or [[InanimateCompetitor inanimate objects]]--can find themselves in the highest position of authority due to a clerical mistake, the nation's own LoonyLaws on election, or some other weird technicality. Often, the elected won't even know about their inexplicable rise to power until after everyone else does.

The person who suddenly found themselves in this position of headship is often a ReluctantRuler--there is a reason why they were not in politics before their unfortunate ascension, after all--although they may prove to be a better ruler than the "legitimate" candidates before them. Or they may prove themselves terribly suited for the job and is just as [[ShortLivedLeadership quickly and easily]] removed from power as they came into it.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'': In "[[Recap/SimpleSamosaEpisode75MayorGaayab Mayor Gaayab]]", absolutely none of the replacements for Chatpata Nagar's mayor are even given an election to determine who should be mayor, so everyone simply sits on the mayor's chair and declares themselves leader. One of them, Cham Cham, starts to act like a despotic king and renames the city "[[{{Egopolis}} Cham Cham Nagar]]" the moment he takes the helm, immediately proving himself to be a bad candidate for the elections a real-life town or country would have; unsurprisingly, he's overthrown.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'': Souma Kazuya, a university student and aspiring civil servant, is summoned to another world with the expectation from the King and Queen of Elfrieden who summoned him that he will go off to fight the Demon Lord. After all relevant circumstances are explained to him, he offers the counter-proposal of an extensive reform program to rebuild Elfrieden's declining fortunes. After two days of talks, to the surprise of everyone including Souma, the King and Queen [[HeirInLaw announce his betrothal to their Crown Princess]] and then AbdicateTheThrone to him. This is just the first chapter: the rest of the story is about how he rose to the challenge.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]", the Fourth Doctor was elected as Lord President of Gallifrey -- despite having no experience as a politician, no desire to govern and the fact he was accused of murdering the previous president.

[[folder:Video Game]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Discussed for laughs in ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'''s review on ''Film/LesMiserables2012'', due to Valjean's transformation from an escaped convict becoming to the town mayor being glossed over in a TimeSkip. He then uses the film's illogical choice of skipping on Valjean's potential CharacterDevelopment to rail against Fantine's horrific descent to poverty and prostitution after getting fired by asking why she doesn't step up her game and rise to a better position of power when it's apparently so easy to achieve.
--> '''Critic:''' "Why? Hasn't she heard? She can be Mayor in a jump cut. Hell, by the time this movie is over, she'll probably be the ''Queen'' of France!"

* ‘’WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom’’: While no election is shown, for whatever reason in the series finale “Phantom Planet” Tucker Foley becomes the new Mayor of Amity Park, despite having zero governing experience, was still in high school, and is not even old enough to vote himself.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In season three, the ''Joker'' -- one of the world's most feared supervillains who managed to take over Gotham City back in season one -- becomes the mayor. While he has reformed, he should still have a criminal record, which is usually enough to disqualify someone from running.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}. In one episode of season 5, 17 years old Leni Loud tries to run for mayor. Although she didn't win, the fact that someone so young and so [[TheDitz ditzy]] as her is even allowed to become a candidate is impossible in real life.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "Impeach Fuzz", Fuzzy Lumpkin is elected the mayor of Townsville while Mayor Mayor is busy launching a PR blitz ([[PoliticiansKissBabies kissing babies]], meeting voters, etc.). This is despite Fuzzy not even knowing he was in the running until he sees a newspaper that declared his victory.

* A number of US elections have been [[https://listverse.com/2018/08/14/10-times-dead-people-won-elections/ won by dead people]].[[note]]These candidates were alive when they were put on the ballot, then died before the election. Upon the deceased’s victory, another candidate from the same party was appointed.[[/note]]

* A number of ''dogs'' hold office of mayor in the United States, including Mayor Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II of Idyllwild, California, and Mayor Duke of Cormorant, Minnesota. In both cases they are "mayors" of unincorporated towns (ie, towns with no local government), and said animals were elected as part of fundraising campaigns. That said, they do a better job than a lot of ''human'' mayors. Anchorage, Alaska, also has an ''honorary'' mayor position held by Mayor Stubbs the Cat, who was originally elected as a form of protest from residents who didn't like the actual mayoral candidates -- he does a pretty good job too, but ''was'' attacked by a (presumably jealous) dog in 2013 so not everyone's a fan.

* As part of his series "The Awful Truth", documentarian and filmmaker ''Creator/MichaelMoore'' ran a Ficus Tree against the otherwise unopposed Republican incumbent Rodney Frelinghuysen for a seat in Congress. The election committee later refused to count the Ficus write-in votes, but the ones that were showed the Ficus having a 4-1 lead over Frelinghuysen.

* [[Donald Trump]]. Enough said.

In a more MedievalFantasy setting, the hero might also find themselves becoming the ruler of whatever kingdom [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt his slain enemy used to govern]] as a side effect of completing their HerosJourney, even if they had never intended to become King/Queen in the first place.

* The [[PAWPatrolTheMovie: Paw Patrol movie]] starts with Mayor Humdinger having just won the role of, ironically, mayor for Adventure City. This is a man so utterly incompetent that merely hearing he had become mayor was, correctly, deemed sufficient reason for the Paw Patrol to relocate to Adventure City to be ready for the numerous inevitable disasters he will cause. While they do at least imply he only won because the opponent dropped out under mysterious circumstances his regular criminal activities should have disqualified him from running.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': The rebel faction of the [[MagicalSociety Aes Sedai]] choose [[spoiler:Egwene]], who's only a trainee, to be their leader, without her foreknowledge. {{Justified|Trope}} because the councilors who select her want a {{puppet|King}} for their own goals and a FallGuy if the rebellion fail.

Fiction tends to have rather lax ideas on how authority and leadership structures works. Just any people can [[WhatsUpKingDude come up to Fictionland's sovereign for a nice chat]], and their supposedly formal governmental bodies have little more structure [[MildlyMilitary than a group of friends hanging out in uniforms]]. Some stories, however, takes things even further by having such a careless hierarchical system that any random civilian--or [[ExaggeratedTrope even]] non-citizens, animals, and/or [[InanimateCompetitor inanimate objects]]--can find themselves in the highest position of authority due to a clerical mistake, the nation's own LoonyLaws on election, or some other weird technicality. Often, the elected won't even know about their inexplicable rise to power until after everyone else does.

* In ''Manga/DoughnutPudding'', it is revealed that headmaster Pierre's wig is the symbol of headship for the school, and whoever wears them will become headmaster, regardless of qualification. When his wig gets stolen by a group of bad guys while he's showering, all the students start fighting over the wig to become headmaster. At the end, the wig is blown by the wind and falls onto the head of a raccoon, and it becomes the new school headmaster.

* In ''Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles'', the city of Toronto is a "popularchy" where, "Anyone who really wants to be in charge can be in charge." In practice, this means they have multiple mayors simultaneously, and anyone can become a mayor just by walking into City Hall and asking.

* ''Series/{{Coach}}'': Howard was a member of a lodge, "The Fraternal Order of Loons" and was campaigning to be the "High Loon". The lodge has an actual loon, which hasn't made a sound in twenty years, present at all meetings. If the loon squawks while someone is talking, that person become High Loon.
* ''Series/DanForMayor'': Played with. Dan becomes a candidate for mayor in an attempt to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he can do something serious with his life. The current mayor is extremely popular so Dan ends up being the only other candidate. Then the mayor dies in an accident right after candidate registration has ended and Dan becomes mayor by default despite having no prior political experience and no inclination to do the job. However, Dan decides to do the honorable thing and gets the election board to reopen candidate registration. Dan then has to run a proper election campaign and is quickly outmatched by a much more competent rival. In the end Dan only stays in the race so he can brag that he was a 'runner up' for mayor. However, fate once again intervenes and the leading candidate pulls out of the race in the last moment. Dan once again wins the election despite not wanting the job anymore.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'': Upon arriving to their town, the first player is instantly named the mayor by Isabelle and the other residents. The dialogue options all express confusion indicating that the player never ran for the position -- not to mention that they'd never even ''been'' to the town, let alone lived there, prior to that conversation.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Last Exit To Springfield," the International Brotherhood of Jazz Dancers, Pastry Chefs and Nuclear Technicians trade union consider giving up their dental coverage in exchange for a free beer keg. Homer, using his actual brain for once, realizes he'd be forced to pay for Lisa's braces and convinces the union not to take the deal. That's all it takes for them to almost-unanimously vote him in as union president, which takes place immediately (the previous president, who promised to "clean up the union," is apparently buried under Springfield Stadium).

* Anyone can become the mayor of Hell, a small town in Michigan, for a day. Including a [[https://www.mlive.com/life/2022/04/cat-known-for-huge-eyes-wonky-feet-to-become-mayor-of-small-michigan-town.html wonky cat]]. This ballot is mostly just for publicity and/or tourism gimmick, and the elected Mayors don't really fulfill any typical Mayoral duties, or have any official authority.

* Anyone can become the mayor of Hell, a small town in Michigan, for a day. Including a [[https://www.mlive.com/life/2022/04/cat-known-for-huge-eyes-wonky-feet-to-become-mayor-of-small-michigan-town.html wonky cat]]. This ballot is mostly just for publicity and/or tourism gimmick, and the elected Mayors don't really fulfill any typical Mayoral duties, or have any official authorty.

* In the backstory of ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Sendaria's attempts to create a democracy got off to a rough start, as they allowed anyone to run for the throne, and everyone was given one vote. The first election took ''seven years'' to tally all the results, and ultimately resulted in a turnip farmer becoming the first King.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': The rebel faction of the [[MagicalSociety Aes Sedai]] choose [[spoiler:Egwene]], who's only a trainee, to be their leader, without her foreknowledge. {{Justified|Trope}} because the councilors who select her want a {{puppet|King}} for their own goals and a FallGuy if the rebellion fail

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]", the Fourth Doctor was elected as Lord President of Gallifrey - despite having no experience as a politician, no desire to govern and the fact he was accused of murdering the previous president.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'': Upon arriving to their town, the first player is instantly named the mayor by Isabelle and the other residents. The dialogue options all express confusion indicating that the player never ran for the position - not to mention that they'd never even ''been'' to the town, let alone lived there, prior to that conversation.

This is a common way to play with the ElectionDayEpisode, subverting audience expectations by having [[DarkHorseVictory a non-candidate]] win despite never being involved in any political office in the first place.