Elected tyrant, not the first time? That’s a sign (9)
I believe the answer is:
indicator
'sign' is the definition.
(I know that sign can be written as indicator)
'elected tyrant not the first time? that's a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'elected' could be 'in' (in government) and 'in' is located in the answer.
'not' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is found within the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for indicator that I've seen before include "This shows" , "Gauge; information board" , "Gauge, meter" , "one might be on the blink?" , "sign" .)