Any male citizen could participate in the public assembly, while senators had to be appointed by consuls.
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Consuls,Senate and assembly
The political machinery evolved over centuries. There was a Senate of men with high property rating. There were popular assemblies - Tribal Assembly (voting by tribes), Centuriate Assembly (warriors under arms in their centuries), and Plebeian Assembly (citizens, with Patricians excluded). These all held various powers which were modified over time.
Roman society was divided into the patricians (the aristocracy), the equites (equestrians) who were bankers, money lenders, merchants and investors in shipping and mining, and the plebeians (the commoners). there were also slaves and freedmen
As the Plebian Assembly came to the point of electing the Tribunes, it became by 339 BC the most powerful element in the ancient Roman republic. It is important to note that the Senate at this time was facing a decline in power. As an example of this, the former power of the Senate to veto measures passed by the Assemly was taken away.
The Senate!