Ecuador’s president prepares to face impeachment trial

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso is set to appear before lawmakers on Tuesday to stand trial on impeachment charges that could result in his ouster, as tensions run high over the proceedings in the Andean nation.

Lasso, a former banker, is facing charges in the opposition-controlled legislature of embezzlement related to contracts awarded to state-owned oil transport company Flowpec. Lasso has denied the allegations and described them as politically motivated. The contracts in question were awarded three years before he took office in 2018.

Congress is expected to vote on censure and impeachment of Lasso over the weekend. To remove him, a majority of 92 out of 137 MPs is needed. MPs last week agreed to go ahead with the test by a simple majority of 88 votes from the 116 members present.

Lasso’s chances of surviving the latest proceedings dwindled further on Sunday when Congress re-elected its president, Virgilio Saquisela, an independent who supported Lasso’s impeachment. Lasso’s Kreo party was left without representation on important oversight committees.

“The chances of the lasso were never good, but Sunday’s vote shows it is very likely they will be turned off within five days,” said Sofia Cordero, a Quito-based political scientist at the Observatory for Political Reforms in Latin America. And will be impeached.”

Despite receiving praise for Ecuador’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and a debt restructuring deal with China, Lasso has struggled to govern since taking office two years ago, unable to overcome a hostile Congress and has failed to stem the rise in drug-related violence. He could avoid impeachment this week, though analysts say he would be hamstrung by a strong opposition in Congress.

“None of the options available are good,” Cordero said. “They all bring instability, uncertainty and ungovernance.”

At any point before the eviction, Lasso can dissolve Congress and trigger presidential and legislative elections under the so-called mutual death clause in Ecuador’s constitution. In that scenario, he would rule by decree – under the supervision of the Constitutional Court – for six months before elections are held.

Lasso told the Financial Times last month that he would activate the clause if Congress moved to oust him. But opposition MPs, as well as Sakisela, have said such a move would be challenged by Congress.

The alliance to impeach Lasso transcends ideological boundaries. The left-wing Union for Hope (UNES) party – led by former president Rafael Correa, who is living in Belgium to avoid being jailed for corruption – has pledged its 47 votes to remove the lasso. The right-wing Social Christian party also supports impeachment, although it has lost a handful of members over the issue.

UNES MP Viviana Veloz, one of the leaders of the impeachment process, said, “We may have ideological differences but we are united to save Ecuador from the nefarious actions of President Lasso.”

Swadeshi Pachkutik Party can prove to be decisive. It split last week over whether to continue with Lasso’s trial, though Sunday largely backed the re-election of Saquisela as well as other supporters of impeachment in key positions.

Amid uncertainty in Congress, indigenous leaders have threatened to resume the protests that paralyzed the country last June and nearly forced Lasso from office in another impeachment trial, which he survived. I went.

“If the government takes wrong decisions and provokes social reaction. , , We will announce a national mobilization,” said Leonidas Iza, the anti-capitalist leader of the powerful Konai Indigenous Federation, which is leading the protests. “We’re going to stand.”