Impeachment of Kairos Hemlock

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The **Impeachment of Kairos Hemlock** occurred when Kairos Hemlock, 5th President of Morra, was impeached by the National Assembly of Morra and removed from office on August 21, 2039 after the assembly voted to charge Hemlock with two articles of impeachment, that of "*gross negligence*" and "*moral corruption*". The vote came amid a political crisis and a personal power-struggle between Hemlock and National Assembly speaker Peter Koonz.

After the assassination of President Sunil Bakshi on February 20, 2039, Vice President Kairos Hemlock assumed the presidency automatically through the constitutional line of succession. Bakshi's death inspired mass protests and demonstrations against the governing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which quickly spread across the country. As a senior member of the VVD, President Hemlock attempted to mediate the situation through negotiations with opposition parties - however, Speaker Peter Koonz and his cabinet sought to use maximum force against protesters to ensure the continued dominance of the VVD-led regime, leading to a split within the government as the executive and legislative branches took increasingly contradictory measures to end the protests. Following the Brussels Massacre on May 17, 2039, in which 300 innocent protesters were killed by security forces, President Hemlock defected from the VVD to hold office as an independent and publicly criticised the Koonz ministry's actions. Between May and August 2039, both Hemlock and Koonz took part in obstructionist actions, with Hemlock vetoing 68 government bills aimed at cracking down on protesters, whilst Koonz actively sought to prevent Hemlock's ally Fachnan Opus being elected as vice president.

In the morning of August 10, 2039, Speaker Peter Koonz announced in a press release that the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would be initiating impeachment proceedings against Kairos Hemlock in a bid to remove her from office. Commentators noted that Koonz would assume the presidency as a result of such a move, not least because of his obstruction of the 2039 vice presidential election; Koonz became the subject of significant international and domestic criticism during the impeachment process. On August 13, 2039, interior secretary Markus Quade announced before the National Assembly that the government would be seeking to proceed to trial under the charges of "*gross negligence*" and "*moral corruption*", which would require votes of 165 and 180 members respectively to apply.

Between August 13 and August 21, 2039, representatives of the National Assembly debated the proceedings and listened to arguments from the government regarding the two articles of impeachment. Following an alleged bomb threat on August 21, 2039, Speaker Peter Illich deployed the armed forces into the assembly chamber during the final voting process, in a move widely seen as a threat towards lawmakers to vote in favour of impeachment. Although opposition politicians voted against the motion regardless, the Worker's Political Alliance joined with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, DENK, the Liberal Party, and the New Party to vote for impeachment, resulting in the motions passing 192-108. Following the vote, Speaker Peter Koonz automatically became acting president in accordance with constitutional succession protocols and combined his legislative power with executive power. For the remainder of the 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis, Koonz would seek to maximise his power as head of government and sought to violently crush protestors against his regime.