Pages: 52-62

Abstract

The impeachment of the Ministers and the President is one of the important supervisory mechanisms of the Parliament regarding the Executive Branch which enables the Parliament to ask the Ministers to provide explanations regarding their actions and to dismiss the Ministers and even the President if they do not provide convincing explanations. The fundamental principles of this mechanism have been provided in Article 89 of the constitution and the internal Rules of the Parliament. Considering the impeachment of the Ministers and the questions that have been raised in the impeachment sessions, we realize that the current legal system of impeachment in the constitution of Iran faces important challenges which in practice can cause disorder in the performance of the Executive Branch and can damage the relationship between the Legislative and Executive Branches. The instances of this damage may include the interference of the Parliament in the executive affairs of the Executive Branch, the lack of the utilization of the obtained results of the impeachment, the existence of a low quorum for the request of the impeachment, and the extremely easy process of the request of the impeachment for the Representatives of the Parliament. It seems that, the actual position of this important supervisory tool has not been appropriately considered and there is the possibility that the current impeachment plans in the Parliament may weaken the Executive Branch and increase the tension between the Legislative and Executive Branches instead of producing positive outcomes.