He President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, said that he will dissolve Congress If you are faced with the possibility of a removal in the current impeachment trial, escalating a political battle with opposition lawmakers.
Lasso, who will defend himself before the plenary of what he assures are false accusations of embezzlement, told the Financial Times that he still thinks he could win the support of enough lawmakers to block the opposition’s attempt to remove him from office.
However, this is a less likely scenario, he noted.
Dissolving Congress is one of the constitutional tools that the business leader still has to prevent the opposition from reaching the 92 votes needed to replace him with the vice president, Alfredo Borrero.
Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador.
Federico Parra / AFP
If Lasso followed this path, would cause early elections while ruling by decree, pending review by the Constitutional Court.
If that were the case, he would run again, Lasso said.
(You can read: Keys to the controversial Lasso measure that legalizes the carrying of weapons in Ecuador)
Lasso survived a first impeachment attempt in June 2022 in the midst of violent protests by indigenous groups, when the opposition did not reach the threshold and only obtained 80 votes.
Now he is being accused by the left-wing opposition of corruption related to a contract for the state oil transport company Flopec.
Political instability has sent Ecuador’s bonds into a tailspin and left them mired deep in credit risk territory.
(You may be interested in: Ecuador: What is President Guillermo Lasso accused of and what can happen?)
🔴#ATTENTION he Virgilio Saquicela, president of the Assembly, questions the grounds that President Guillermo Lasso could use to justify cross death.⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LIoXRubQrk
– Radio Pichincha (@radio_pichincha) April 18, 2023
Ecuador, in uncertainty
At the same time, the Minister of Government of Ecuador, Henry Cucalón, lamented this Tuesday the uncertainty caused by the impeachment of censorship that the opposition has started against President Guillermo Lasso, an effect that “must be combated” to give security to investments and businesses.
In a meeting with members of the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Quito, Cucalón acknowledged that the turbulence of the political trial is behind the fact that Ecuador’s risk premium touches 2,000 points and that it also affects the international investments that are expected in the country.
However, the minister was sure that the political trial will not end with the dismissal of the head of state because he stated that the accusation of alleged embezzlement (embezzlement) is unfounded.
(Keep reading: Ecuadorian opposition opens impeachment process against President Lasso)
They must be clear that the President of the Republic is a person of integrity
“They have to be clear that the President of the Republic is a person of integrity, who can make mistakes like all of us, but he is not a person who has cheated,” said Cucalón.
“They have tried to impose a story on us, a narrative where WhatsApp goes faster than the facts, where the lies go beyond the facts,” he added.
The minister remarked that “this false story has been permanently distorted in the world of facts and evidence.”
The head of the Government portfolio recalled that the Constitutional Court removed from the accusation, for lack of support, the crime of concussion, around an alleged corruption plot in public companies in which the businessman Danilo Carrera, Lasso’s brother-in-law, appears .
*With information from EFE and Bloomberg
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