Leo III the Isaurian
The first actual election was probably that of the third Doge, Orso Ipato, when in 726 the Venetians, rejecting measures imposed by iconoclasts of the 'Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, chose their own leadership autonomously. Upon the death of Orso however, the Byzantines replaced the government with a ducal courts annually in the "magistri militum" until 742 when the emperor formally granted the populate the right to elect the Doge.