impeachment
Sign in to savethumb|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 thei
AI overview
Impeachment is a formal process through which a legislature charges a public official with misconduct and brings them to trial. It matters because it provides a way to hold high-ranking government officials accountable when they abuse their power or violate the public trust.
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Article
34 sectionsContents
- Etymology and history
- In various jurisdictions
- Brazil
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- India
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Norway
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Other
- Armenia
- See also
- References
- External links
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.