A land with military commander elected time after time (5,3,5)

I believe the answer is:

again and again

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'time after time' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a land with military commander elected' is the wordplay.
'a land' becomes 'again' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' becomes 'and'.
'military commander' becomes 'aga' (historical commander in some Muslim countries).
'elected' becomes 'in' (in government).
'again'+'and'+'aga'+'in'='AGAIN AND AGAIN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for again and again that I've seen before include "repetition" , "Repeatedly" , "Continually" , "Many times" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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