Popular vote is a horrible idea.
Why, you may ask? If we left it to the knowledge of the community, we would all be f**ked. If you can remember correctly, Nar happened. Who's to say it won't happen with any old popular vote user.
Thing is, if somebody is fully trusted they can still turn their back on you. That is actually when they're most likely to do it.
Now, power can also get to people's heads. If they have full control over something big, like this community, they can completely ruin everything and turn it the way they want it to be just because they have full power.