Impeachment is a legal procedure for expressing political distrust of a top official due to the latter's failure to fulfill his direct duties. The direct consequence of such actions is removal from office and, in some cases, prosecution. In parliamentary democracies, impeachment is also a parliamentary trial. A similar procedure is provided, for example, by the legislative systems of Great Britain and the United States.
And not just the President…
In our public opinion, for some reason, it is generally accepted that there is only the impeachment of the president. However, this is far from being the case – we are talking about top officials in general, which include prime ministers. In Japan, this scenario is quite real in the sense that the local prime minister is the de facto head of state. As for the United States, the famous "Watergate scandal" is clearlydemonstrated how the American judicial and political machine works. But here it must be clarified that, according to American law, impeachment is the direct removal of any official. Therefore, it does not matter what place an official or politician occupies in the system of state power. The main thing is that he works in the legal field, and his bureaucratic activity is not due to personal or business interests.
American-style impeachment proceedings
Note also that this procedure applies only to civilians. The army has a system of military tribunals. So, the removal procedure is initiated and carried out by the House of Representatives. The motivation is “serious offences”, the content of which is detailed in each individual case. The culprit is charged with his illegal actions. If the guilt is proven, then a vote is held, the official is dismissed by an absolute majority of votes. However, an agreement between the parliamentary majority and the opposition is also possible. Then a decision is made on impeachment and new elections are scheduled. Then there are hearings in the Senate, where at least 2/3 of the votes are collected. If they are received, then the bureaucrat loses the right to hold any public office. But this rarely comes to pass. The same Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 without waiting for the decision of the Senate. And in the case of B. Clinton, the Senate refused to support the initiative of the House of Representatives.
Russian impeachment procedure
According to the Russian constitution, impeachment is the removal from power of the president in the event of charges against him of illegal actions. The very procedure for removal from office is initiated by the State Duma, and the Federation Council decides whether to keep the head of state in his post or not. The prerequisite is that the alleged crimes or other offenses must be proven by the Supreme Court. After that, the voting procedure is already underway in both houses of parliament: both there and there you need to get at least 2/3 of the votes. Moreover, the vote in the Federation Council must take place within 2 months after the start of the impeachment procedure. Otherwise, all charges against the president are considered to be dropped.
