It is the big day, the day when the voters get to see who shall be their ruler for the foreseeable future. All votes have been counted and the results are in! It could be the Villain with Good Publicity who is working on their evil plan. Or perhaps, it may be the underdog Reasonable Authority Figure, hated by all the other Corrupt Politicians. In such a scenario, this leader's authority can be dismantled if they are overthrown by a coup but that would lead to the loss of many lives. A more bloodless option is to legally oust the leader.
Most parliamentary democracies have a clause in their laws that allows for the current ruling leader to be ousted from office even before their term is over. This is often called a 'Vote of No Confidence' and is serious business. If a majority of elected representatives agree to get rid of the leader, their rule is brought to an end abruptly.
Most presidential and semi-presidential democracies also have a form of legally ousting elected leaders. Often, this is an instance of impeachment wherein a judicial body or a senate agrees to remove the offending leader. Often, this process is called an 'Impeachment' and just like its parliamentary counterpart, it too is serious business.
The laws of certain democratic countries sometimes allow the public to vote to remove officials in certain elected positions from office during their term. This may be called a recall or snap election. Can also work with private businesses if an unpopular Majority-Share Dictator gets thrown out when his enemies manage to get enough shareholders on their side.
Thankfully, this trope is Truth in Television and helps ensure that elected leaders do not damage the very core principles of a democracy. If a well-intentioned character is legally ousted, this may prove that Democracy Is Bad. If a vote of no confidence narrowly succeeds/fails due to one or even a couple votes, see Decided by One Vote. If the leader resigns just before the removal process is set into motion, see Resigned in Disgrace. Contrast with Permanent Elected Official, who remains in office no matter how much they deserve to be removed.
Due to the controversial nature of this trope, a No Recent Examples, Please! policy has been instituted. Do not, under any circumstance, list any real-life examples that have happened sooner than 20 years prior to the present.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Subverted. At the end of 2nd Gig, due to Gohda pulling the strings to bring the refugee situation in Dejima to a violent conflict with the JSDF army, Prime Minister Kayabuki finds herself being threatened by her primarily-right wing cabinet members and their Pro-American Empire stance. They tell her that they intend to remove her from office with a vote of no confidence, stating that she was weaker than they first assumed because she asked the United Nations to step in and help with the investigation of the stolen plutonium relating to the refugee conflict, which in turn ruined the Cabinet's plans. It was thanks to Section 9's help that not only was a nuclear disaster averted, but the cabinet backed down after realizing that removing her from office in the aftermath would've started another political scandal.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Expansions to Kaiba's backstory reveal that he ousted his abusive stepfather Gozaburo from Kaibacorp by securing 49% of the stock, then yo-yoing Mokuba's (a 2% shareholder) loyalty onto his side when Gozaburo thought they'd become estranged.
Comic Books
- Judge Dredd: At least two Chief Judges were legally removed from office by the other Judges:
- A unique and very short-lived Succession Crisis occurred when Chief Judge Silver disappeared during Necropolis, only to return months later as a zombie, claiming that his successor (and predecessor) McGruder had become Chief Judge by unlawful means. Both parties agreed to an arbitration by Dredd, who ruled that Silver was indeed the lawful Chief Judge, but then formally removed him from office and incinerated him for allowing the Dark Judges to take over.
- Acting Chief Judge Martin Sinfield was formally removed by the Special Judicial Squad and exiled to Titan when Dredd presented them with evidence that he had used the mind-altering drug SLD-88 to keep Chief Judge Francisco incapacitated.
Comic Strips
- Calvin and Hobbes: Parodied when Calvin, ever the Bratty Half-Pint, gives his dad a negative rating and says he's in danger of being removed from office. Dad plays along and informs him that he was appointed "Dad" for life: there are no provisions for impeachment or recall.
Calvin: Did you write this constitution yourself, or what?
Dad: Well, your mom helped.
Fan Works
- Last Hope
: Thanks to Luke's machinations, the senators who are opposed to Palpatine's growing authoritarianism not only have the courage to formally attempt to oust him, but also have solid evidence that he is Darth Sidious and that the Sith have been trying to subvert the Republic and trying to destroy it, which includes Dooku being willing to turn himself in and confess to everything the duo have done. The end result is the vast majority of senators approving for Order 65 to be invoked, ending Palpatine's reign and preventing the rise of the Empire.
- Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi: The entire premise of this work is that Palpatine ironically and completely unexpectedly falls victim to the Vote of No Confidence, with the senator who put the motion up for debate being disillusioned with his handling of the Clone War and wanting the conflict to be resolved as soon as possible.
- The War of the Masters: Discussed. It is mentioned in a couple of stories that the Bajoran Nationalist Party lost power in a recall election in the 2380s after their government at the time tried to cancel Bajor's renewed bid to join The Federation.
Films — Live-Action
- Batman Returns: Subverted. Max Shreck tries to attempt one on Gotham City's mayor as he opposed a power plant Shreck proposes, which was actually a scam to stockpile energy. Shreck backs a recall election campaign by Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot, who directs his Red Triangle Circus gang to bring chaos to Gotham City, making the mayor look like he can't control the crime rate. It ultimately fails when Batman turns the public against Cobblepot through an Engineered Public Confession.
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: During an emergency meeting of the Galactic Senate, Queen Amidala of Naboo informs the presiding senators that her world is under military invasion/occupation by the Trade Federation and asks the Senate to provide aid to her suffering people, yet most of them don't believe her. Instead, a group of corrupt politicians, spearheaded by the representative of the very same Trade Federation currently attacking her world, push for a commission to be created to verify whether her claim of military invasion is true or not. When Supreme Chancellor Valorum proves unable to oppose the corrupt politicians, Queen Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence in his leadership. This results in Valorum being removed from office and Senator Palpatine replacing him as Supreme Chancellor. This turns out to be exactly what Palpatine wanted, as he was the one who orchestrated this incident and manipulated the Queen into calling for a vote of no confidence as the first step of his greater plan to destroy the Republic and bring about the Empire.
- Spider-Man: The board of directors at Oscorp vote to remove Norman Osborn, the CEO and founder, to take over his firm and merge with a larger company. It provokes Norman's Start of Darkness and comes back to bite the board in the ass.
Norman Osborn: Oh, you can't do this to me... I-I started this company! [furious] YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I SACRIFICED? [turns to one of the directors] Oh, Max, please!
Maximilian Fargas: Norman, the board is unanimous. We're announcing the sale after the World Unity Festival. I'm sorry.
Henry Balkan: You're out, Norman.
Norman Osborn: [with seething contempt] Am I?
Literature
- Captive Prince: In the climax of the final book, the truth comes out that the Regent of Vere had the King assassinated and plotted to usurp the throne, so the Veretian Council sentences him to death for treason. It's unclear whether the Council could have sentenced a reigning monarch, but...
Herode: You were only ever his Regent. You were never the King.
- Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72: Acting President Spiro Agnew is removed from office after he pardons himself; since accepting a pardon constitutes an admission of guilt, this is considered grounds to remove him from office.
- The Mayors: Sermak calls for a City Council vote to impeach Hardin due to external policies he considers suicidally stupid at best and treasonous at worst. It fails, narrowly.
- Mistborn: The Original Trilogy: In The Well of Ascension, Elend Venture takes over the reins of government in Luthadel after Lord Ruler's death and attempts to shift it towards republicanism by instituting a citizen Assembly, which promptly ousts him from kingship using the very laws he had penned and elects Lord Penrod as their new monarch.
- The Truth: After several Discworld novels in which conspiracies plot to kill or incapacitate Lord Vetinari, one instead engineers a situation where the council of Guild leaders votes him out. Notably, this is the first indication that this is even an option, previous novels having given the impression that assassination is the only way of removing a Patrician from office.
- At the start of Warrior Cats: A Starless Clan, the Clans add a much-needed rule to the warrior code that allows a leader to be demoted if three-quarters of the Clan agree. (Previously, they would serve until they'd lost all their nine lives, and the code declared that the leader's word was law, which led to several long-term weak or tyrannical leaders.)
- The Wheel of Time: The Amyrlin Seat of the Aes Sedai is elected for life, but the Hall of the Tower can vote to depose and De-power her. It's such an extreme measure that it's only been done thrice in 3000 years, and the third time is a coup with the barest veneer of legality.
- Worldwar: It is noted that the Race have a procedure for removing a senior military officer they deem incompetent or incapable of leadership through voting (a two-thirds majority is needed); one officer taking part in that vote notes how similar it is to the Human practice of voting and elections, which the Race deride as "snout-counting".
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: Discussed. At the end of season 4, when President Clark is overthrown, his interim replacement, President Susanna Luchenko, speaks with Sheridan about his actions. She says that there were ways of dealing with Clark from within the system and that members of the government were taking steps to do just that. Sheridan counters that that was taking too long and civilians were dying in the meantime, one of the major reasons he started moving against EarthGov militarily.
- The Brittas Empire: "Not a Good Day..." makes a brief Take That! towards the current British government at the time via Sebastian Coe wanting to return from the leisure centre to participate in a vote of no confidence in it, although Brittas' words on the matter leave it ambiguous as to whether Coe is supporting or opposing the government.
- Cobra Kai: Terry Silver is done in this way at the end of Season 5 where he was the main antagonist and the leader of an expanded dojo empire until his numerous crimes are exposed to both law enforcement and his student, shattering the resolve of the latter and prompting the former to arrest him for a litany of charges.
- Doctor Who: The Doctor is furious with Harriet Jones, then Prime Minister of England, for obliterating a fleeing Sycorax ship in "The Christmas Invasion". He tells her he can bring down her government with six words, which he then does by whispering to her aide, "Don't you think she looks tired?" Shortly after, she is forced to resign among accusations of poor health, which comes back to bite the Doctor later, as it allows Harold Saxon, a.k.a. the Master, to take the reins of the British government.
- The Expanse: In Season 5, much of the United Nations cabinet of Secretary-General Gao is wiped out by the Free Navy asteroid attacks. David Paster, the former Minister of Transportation, succeeds her and naturally proves to be especially ill-suited as a wartime leader, easily allowing himself to be manipulated by the General Rippers in his cabinet and ordering retaliatory missile strikes against Belter civilians which guarantees the entire Belt will side with the Free Navy. Avasarala and several other cabinet members resign in disgust while the rest issue a vote of no confidence to oust Paster.
- House: Billionaire Edward Vogler uses a handsome donation to the Princeton-Plainsboro hospital to buy a seat as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and uses the position to steer the hospital into marketing his company's drugs. He quickly develops a feud with House, which escalates until Vogler demands House's immediate termination or he'll walk. Most of the board reluctantly agrees. When Wilson vetoes his motion, Vogler has another vote to remove Wilson from the board, then Cuddy when she vetoes it as well. Cuddy eventually convinces the other board members that while House himself may not be worth 100 million, it's just not worth signing away the hospital's independence to a businessman with an agenda who cannot tolerate dissent. They vote against Vogler's motion to dismiss Cuddy and he walks.
- Madam Secretary: "Article 5" ends with the President of France in the process of getting impeached by Parliament for taking illegal campaign contributions from a Russian agent in exchange for stonewalling a NATO response to a Russian invasion of Bulgaria.
- Parks and Recreation: After winning a seat on the city council in season 4 and butting heads with the rest of the obstructive and corrupt council members throughout season 5, Leslie Knope is recalled early in season 6 in an effort led by her top opponent on the council (Jeremy Jamm) and a multitude of business interests opposed to Leslie's progressive policies.
Tabletop Games
- BattleTech: Normally in the Clans, a leader is removed from power when a dissatisfied underling challenges them to a Trial and wins. However, they do have some other options based on the situation. For example, after the Battle of Tukayyid, which the Clans lost largely due to failing follow the advice that IlKhan Ulric Kerensky gave them about how to prepare for the battle, the Crusader Clans orchestrated a vote in the Clan Grand Council to remove him from the position of IlKhan. The charges they used were blatantly false (genocide, claiming that the truce they were forced to agree to after losing the battle would result in "the pointless deaths of countless Clan warriors" over the 15 year period that they weren't allowed to advance toward Terra), but it was just a transparent excuse to remove him from power with a vote strictly along the Crusader/Warden political division within the Clans.
- Warhammer: The Electors are a small council of high nobilitynote who stand one step below The Emperor, elect the emperor to office, and serve as the primary check on imperial power. Emperors almost always serve for life, but Dieter IV was voted out for his unprecedented incompetence in letting the City-State of Marienburg bribe its way into independence.
Video Games
- Crisis in the Kremlin: In the 1992 version, angering either the conservatives or radicals can cause you to have to deal with a motion of no confidence, in which case, you better hope you have enough emergency funds, citizen satisfaction, or political strength to overturn it.
- Hearts of Iron: There are innumerable country-specific ways you can do this in order to go down an Alternate History route, but all countries have the option of passing a referendum to put a different political party in power.
- Streets of Rogue: The end goal is to overthrow the corrupt Mayor by claiming the Mayor's hat. One of the more non-violent, non-criminal ways to achieve this is to befriend a lot of townspeople and then hold an election. If enough people vote for you, the Mayor will surrender their hat willingly.
- Suzerain:
- Anger the Old Guard or take part in shady deals and you can very much get impeached by the Grand National Assembly or the Supreme Court.
- Inverted if you are able to pass laws that legalize the impeachment of Supreme Court Justices.
Web Videos
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series parodies the original show's example, by having the surprise 2% come from Gozaburo's butler ("Mokuba, you don't have any shares. You're, like, 5!"). Funnily enough, Mokuba can still be indirectly credited for this, since he's the only one on Gozaburo's estate to treat the butler kindly.
Western Animation
- Amphibia: After Anne and the Plantars return to Amphibia from Earth, they find that Sasha has been leading an army against King Andrias. Sasha, knowing how much closer her army is with Anne, announces Anne as the new leader. After one botched mission though, Anne holds a vote to put Sasha back in charge which everybody votes to do as they agree that Anne, while a good friend, is a terrible leader.
- Hercules: The Animated Series: Subverted in "Hercules and the Apollo Mission". Zeus decides to let Hercules pilot the Sun for one day. After Herc botches it and loses the Sun, Hades (who secretly had the Sun stolen and hidden in the Underworld) calls for a no-confidence vote against Zeus as part of his latest plan to take over Olympus. Just as the deciding vote is about to be cast (by Apollo the Sun God), Hercules manages to return the Sun, and the vote is called off.
- The Simpsons: Zigzagged near the end of "Meat is Murder". Augustus Redfield, a former business partner of Grampa Simpson's and CEO of an incredibly powerful company, has appointed Grampa to his board of directors. Augustus' children introduce a motion of no confidence against him. The vote is tied, and Grampa's vote will break the tie. He votes "no" out of loyalty, but Augustus saw this coming; with his suspicions confirmed that his children would betray him, he fires them all, and reveals that he only reconnected with Grampa to get this easy vote. Seeing his old friend's true nature, Grampa goes into a particularly bizarre instance of his signature rambles, leading everyone to believe he's too mentally incompetent to vote, nullifying his "no" vote and putting the vote of no confidence against Augustus back in deadlock.
- Underdog: Simon Bar Sinister succeeds in getting everybody in the United States rolling on the floor laughing on Election Day. This means only he and henchman Cad Lackey cast votes, electing Simon as Dictator of the United States. Simon is enjoying his post as supreme executive, until Underdog points out that neither Simon nor Cad are registered to vote, meaning their votes were invalid. The two phonies get the bum's rush from an angry retinue.
- The Venture Bros.: Baron Ünderbheit is the despotic leader of Ünderland and an enemy of Dr. Venture since their college days. In "Love Bheits", he captures the Venture family on their way back from a Halloween party and, with Dean dressed in a "Slave Leia" costume, mistakes him for Venture's daughter. Before killing the rest of the family, he intends to marry Dean as a final insult to Venture. After the ceremony is carried out, the "Ünderground" show up and order that Ünderbheit be arrested, as gay marriage is illegal in Ünderland, then exiling him and quickly electing a new leader.
- Young Justice (2010): At the end of Season 3, the heroes are able to oust Lex Luthor from his position as Secretary-General of the United Nations by presenting evidence of Luthor's multiple criminal activities conducted both before and during his time in office.
Real Life
- Indonesian President Sukarno was impeached in 1967 after a set of allegations arose that accused him of masterminding the 30 September Movement coup against himself.
