The Illinois House in a historic vote has impeached embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich who is accused of selling a U.S. senator seat vacated by U.S. President- elect Barack Obama.
The vote by the House was 114-1 and marks the first time in the state's 190-year history that a governor has been impeached.
However, a spokesman for the governor said he won't resign.
The actions of the House -- approving an article of impeachment maintaining Blagojevich had committed abuses of power -- represents the equivalent of an indictment.
Next week, when the Illinois Senate convenes, it will begin the process of setting up a trial of the governor in which each of the 59 state senators act as judge and jurors.
A total of 40 senators are needed to convict Blagojevich, which would remove the governor from office and make Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn the state's new chief executive. A trial is expected to take at least three weeks.
Illinois House members had expressed hopes that the impeachment would encourage Blagojevich to resign from office to avoid the Senate trial. But Blagojevich has resisted calls for his resignation.
On Thursday, after the House investigation's panel recommended Blagojevich's impeachment, the governor said he looked forward to a trial in the Senate, presided over by the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, and "believes the outcome will be much different" from the House action.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2009)