To put it simply, the Senate was above the Law. And that is your complete failure in understanding all of this.
If you are going by the letter of the law, then you will have to go back to the Marius Reforms when the Senate all but acted only they determine what laws to follow. Since Marius and until Augustus, the Senate, and not the law, determines who is to be Consuls. This was backed up by the fact that Pompey had thugs in the streets to force both the people to vote the way he wanted.
Let's not forget that Pompey was in fact ignoring the Senate in the first place as part of the First Triumpheret where Caeser had the NW, Pompey, the SC, and Cassius, the East. With Cassius's defeat against Parthia, both Pompey and Caeser was put on a collision course. There were divisions within the Senate and compromises were negotiated up the ying-yang with both Caesar and Pompey giving up their legions on the same day. Depending on whose stories you believe, either Caesar or Pompey changed the terms of that deal.
Shortly after, those senators supporting Caesar were either on the run and in hiding. The Senate, therefore, put forth Pompey as the only obvious candidate and with Pompey's on leave legionaires running around, the result was obvious. There was nothing legal about any of this.
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