Ecuador’s Constitutional Court will allow the congressional impeachment trial of President Guillermo Lasso to go ahead, the court said in a statement late Wednesday night.
(Bloomberg) — Ecuador’s Constitutional Court will allow the congressional impeachment trial of President Guillermo Lasso to go ahead, the court said in a statement late Wednesday night.
Judges voted 6-3 to clear the way for the National Assembly to seek to remove one of Latin America’s few market-friendly presidents from office less than halfway into his four-year term. Concern over his potential removal has sent Ecuador’s dollar bonds tumbling.
An opposition coalition of leftwing supporters of former President Rafael Correa, the conservative Social Christian Party and dissidents of center-left parties accuse Lasso of having negligently allowed corruption in the public administration.
Lasso has called the accusations unfounded and says they fail to meet legal grounds to impeach him. While the legislature needs the votes of 92 of 137 lawmakers to replace him with Vice President Alfredo Borrero, the first attempt to remove him last June amid a violent Indigenous uprising obtained just 80 votes.
Lasso can also step in at any moment to dissolve the legislature, putting lawmakers’ jobs on the line as the decision would trigger early elections.
Juan Fernando Flores, the leader of the president’s CREO party in congress, said Tuesday that Lasso’s priority would be to defend himself from the accusations rather than shutting the congress. The whole impeachment process will take at least 45 days, he added.
If Lasso were to dissolve the National Assembly, he would be allowed to govern by executive decree, subject to review by the Constitutional Court. The hostile opposition has blocked most of his initiatives, including his attempts to attract more foreign investment through legal reforms.
Indigenous leaders have warned they could take to the streets again if Lasso were to close the parliament. A March opinion survey by pollster Click Report said most voters rejected prominent politicians including Lasso, Correa, PSC leader Jaime Nebot and Leonidas Iza, president of CONAIE, Ecuador’s biggest Indigenous organization, by wide majorities.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.