impeachment

thumb|Brazil|Brazilian president [[Dilma Rousseff (left) and South Korean president Park Geun-hye (right) were both impeached and removed from office in 2016 and 2017, respectively.]] Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. Impeachment tends to be confined to ministerial officials as the unique nature of their positions may place ministers beyond the reach of the law to prosecute, or their misconduct is not codified into law as an offense except through the unique expectations of their high office. Both "peers and commoners" have been subject to the process, however.

From 1990 to 2020, there have been at least 272 impeachment charges against 132 different heads of state in 63 countries. In Latin America, which includes almost 40% of the world's presidential systems, ten presidents from seven countries were removed from office by their national legislatures via impeachments or declarations of incapacity between 1978 and 2019.