PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT IN SEMI-PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS. Case Study: Romania 2007
PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT IN SEMI-PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS. Case Study: Romania 2007

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the institution of presidential impeachment in countries displaying a semi-presidential institutional design. It addresses the question whether the functioning of impeachment can be attributed to the particular institutional arrangement mirrored in the specific interactions between the institutional actors involved – the president, parliament and PM – or by noninstitutional factors such as the president’s actions conflicting with the constitutional text. The used method is the single case study of the 2007 impeachment of the Romanian president Traian Băsescu. The main result is the difficulty to point to a clear, mono-causal relationship between the tensions inherent to semi-presidentialism and the practice of impeachment since the latter is not a common practice in countries with dual executive. The Romanian case indicates a situation in which the ambiguity of the constitutional text allowed the parliamentary majority to sanction the President on loose charges. The institutional tug of war continued between the President, PM and Parliament because the Romanian Constitution does not provide for a reliable mechanism to resolve such constitutional conflicts.

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