Although throughout the early years of the Principate, the consuls were still formally elected by the Comitia Centuriata, they were de facto nominated by the princeps. As the years progressed, the distinction between the Comitia Centuriata and the Comitia Tributa (which elected the lower magisterial positions) appears to have disappeared, and so for the purposes of the consular elections, there came to be just a single "assembly of the people" which elected all the magisterial positions of the state, while the consuls continued to be nominated by the princeps.