Impeachment
Ministers may be tried in the Court of Impeachment
A Minister is responsible for the way in which they administer their office. If it is suspected that a Minister has broken the rules for the conduct of Ministers, the Constitutional Act or the legislation in general, the Government or Parliament may demand that they are tried by the Court of Impeachment. This is a special court that processes cases against Ministers for the administration of their office. The rules for the Court of Impeachment may be found in the Act on the Court of Impeachment.
Ministerial accountability
A minister is always accountable for the ways in which the minister and the ministry employ their power. It is the responsibility of the minister to make sure that everything that happens within the jurisdiction of the ministry does not break any laws. This political accountability is described in the Constitutional Act, while the legal accountability is described in the Ministerial Accountability Act.
Correct information is of crucial importance
A minister must not give Parliament any false or misleading information. During the Parliament’s processing of a case, a minister also must not conceal any information that is important in the Parliament’s view of the case.
Parliament has few resources in collection and processing the necessary information connected with the legislative work. For this reason, Parliament is completely dependent on the government and the various ministries providing correct and complete information. Otherwise, Parliament may end up making decisions and passing legislation under false assumptions.
Parliament has the option of sanctions
If the majority of Parliament believe that something in the government’s performance of their offices, or if Parliament has not received the correct and complete information, there are different options for sanctions.
Parliament may:
- criticize a minister’s performance of their office (this is called giving the minister a »nose«)
- overturn the minister or the entire government by stating that they no longer have confidence in the minister or the government (or passing a vote of no confidence)
- establish a commission of inquiry to examine an especially serious case
- establish a commission of scrutiny to examine an especially serious case
- decide to charge the minister in the Court of Impeachment, if Parliament believes that the minister has done something punishable in their performance of office
Cases in the Court of Impeachment may in principle also be tried against other people, if the Government or Parliament finds that the crime is particularly dangerous to the state. However, this has never happened.
Penalization of a minister
have given wrongful information to Parliament
have withheld information of significant importance to Parliament
have been a contributory factor in illegal administration of the legislation
A Minister may be tried in the Court of Impeachment even if they are no longer the Minister.
The Court of Impeachment is made up of up to 15 Supreme Court judges and an equivalent number of members appointed by Parliament.
The politically elected members are appointed by Parliament every 6 years. For each of the politically appointed members, 2 alternates are chosen. The politically appointed members are included so that political expertise is accounted for in cases against Ministers. One cannot be a member of both the Court of Impeachment and Parliament at the same time.
When the politically elected members have been appointed, the Court of Impeachment gathers to select a president and vice-president. After this, the Court of Impeachment does not convene until the Government or Parliament decides to prosecute a Minister.
Only 6 cases have been tried in the Court of Impeachment since it was established in 1849. Only 3 Ministers have ever been found guilty.