Ecuador’s president invokes ‘mutual death’ clause to hold elections

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso has taken the unprecedented step of activating a “mutual death” clause to dissolve Congress and hold midterm elections after facing impeachment charges.

Lasso will have up to six months to rule by decree, which will be overseen by the country’s constitutional court, after announcing the move in a televised address on Wednesday. During that time legislative and presidential elections will be called in the Andean nation.

“It is a democratic decision, not only because it is constitutional, but because it returns power to the people of Ecuador, Lasso said. “Starting today, the government will issue a series of decrees of laws that follow the clear mandate of the people.”

Lasso’s move to activate a constitutional clause known as mutual death, which has been in the country’s constitution since 2008 but has never been used, comes at a time of turmoil in Ecuador.

Lasso – a former banker and one of Latin America’s few market-friendly presidents – triggered the segment a day after he appeared before the opposition-controlled Congress, where he faces an impeachment trial for alleged embezzlement .

The president strongly denied the allegations, which pertain to contracts awarded to state-owned oil transport company Flowpec in 2018, three years before he took office.

At the hearing, Lasso sought to “undermine the credibility of the presidency (and) democracy” by calling the lawmakers “anti-legislators”.

A vote on Lasso’s removal was expected to take place over the weekend, with a majority of 92 votes out of 137 needed to oust him.

The vote to bring the matter to trial took a simple majority of 88 out of 116 votes, but after internal elections held over the weekend, the opposition was confident it had the votes to remove the leader.

The attempt to impeach Lasso was led by the Union for Hope (Younes), a left-wing political party led by former President Raphael Correa, who ruled from 2007 to 2017 and is currently facing his own corruption scandal in Belgium. Remains to avoid imprisonment after conviction.

“This is illegal,” Correa said in a tweet on Wednesday in response to Lasso’s decree. “In any case, this is a great opportunity to send Lasso, his government and his legislators home to rent.”

Lasso is expected to stand in the upcoming presidential election despite his poor poll ratings. He could face stiff opposition from Korea’s allies, buoyed by success in February’s local elections.

Lasso has struggled to govern since taking office two years ago, finding himself unable to overcome a hostile Congress. He has also failed to stem a rise in drug-related violence, though he was praised for Ecuador’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and a debt restructuring deal with China last year.

Left-wing opposition lawmaker Mireya Pazmino, one of the leaders of the impeachment process, said on Wednesday Lasso’s move was illegal. “We are going to take judicial action,” she said.

Some MPs had planned to occupy the MLA palace in the event the mutual death clause of the lasso was activated, however on Wednesday morning the compound was cordoned off and guarded by police in riot gear. Military and police leaders made statements on Wednesday in which they recognized the validity of Lasso’s decree.

Markets were upset by Lasso’s announcement, with the price of bonds due in 2035 falling from 37 cents on the dollar to 33 cents, down to about 35.5 cents.

Meanwhile, the powerful Conai Indigenous Federation has threatened to resume the protests that paralyzed the country last summer.

“If the government takes wrong decisions and provokes social reaction. , , We will announce a national mobilization,” Leonidas Iza, the anti-capitalist president of CONAI, said before the Lasso Disbanded Congress. “We are going to stand.”

On Wednesday morning, a Konai statement called Lasso’s government “a dictatorship” and said a “collective decision” would be taken by a special council in the coming hours.

Analysts see a grim forecast for governance in the country of about 18 million.

“It will create a ton of volatility,” said Sebastian Hurtado, head of Quito-based political risk consultancy Profitas. “There is a danger of a constitutional crisis where it is uncertain which decision will stand, and constitutional crises in Ecuador are usually resolved through pressure in the streets.”