Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso issued a decree dissolving the National Assembly on Wednesday. This shortened the timeline for legislative and presidential elections and prevented political opponents from attempting impeachment.
The National Assembly building in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, was surrounded by barricades, riot police, and soldiers.
A group of opposition politicians attempted to impeach President Lasso on the grounds that he ignored warning signs of potential embezzlement at Flopec, the state-owned oil transportation company.
Although there was majority support for a resolution accusing Lasso of allowing the corrupt contract to continue after he took office in 2021, an oversight committee of Congress did not recommend impeachment in its report after hearing testimony from Lasso’s opponents, government officials, and his attorney.
According to Lasso, the impeachment process is politically motivated and has created a serious crisis that threatens Ecuador’s democracy. This is the first time in decades that an Ecuadorian president has been impeached. He claimed that the breakup was necessary.
According to Lasso, “this is a democratic decision, not only because it is constitutional, but because it returns the power to the Ecuadorean people… to decide their future in the next elections,” the ruling was “a democratic decision.”
Instability in the region
The situation in Ecuador is the latest example of instability in the region. This follows the impeachment and arrest of former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo in December for attempting to dissolve Congress.
The news caused the price of Ecuador’s sovereign bonds to plummet, as investors sold their holdings, fearful of increased instability and the possible removal of the market-friendly Lasso.
Indigenous and leftist organizations condemned Lasso’s decision, with some threatening to take to the streets in protest. Opposition politicians also questioned the decision’s legality.
Lasso used the crisis and inability to govern to invoke the constitution’s so-called “two-way death” provision, which allows the president to call elections for both his post and the assembly under certain conditions, including if actions by the legislature are impeding government functioning.
He can continue to rule by executive order, as the constitution requires.
Diana Ataimaint, the president of Ecuador’s electoral court, told reporters that Lasso is free to run and that the court has until May 24 to call new elections. The elections must take place within 90 days.
Early election winners would serve until the next regular election in 2025.
