Quito (EFE).- The Constitutional Court of Ecuador gives the green light for the National Assembly (Parliament) to carry out a political trial of censorship against the president of the country, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, whom the opposition accuses of embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds).
With six votes from the nine judges that make up the highest constitutional control body in the country, the Court presented a favorable report of “admissibility” to the political trial that the National Assembly (Parliament) is processing against the head of state.
The Constitutional Court reported that the report was approved, although it did not admit the cause of “concussion”, a crime for which the president was also accused by the opposition from the Assembly.
“In the analysis of the procedure, it was found that the application submitted and the procedure followed up to here in the National Assembly, the principles of political legitimacy and due process have been respected,” the Court specified in its ruling.
The high court also established a “lack of prolixity in the activation” of the figure of impeachment, which, however, does not influence the ruling.
“This Court urges the institutions involved in the impeachment trial to always act within the canons provided for in the Constitution and the Rule of Law,” he added.
With this ruling, the process will continue in the Legislative Assembly, which will send the report to the Political Oversight and Control Commission, which must prepare a report to be discussed by the plenary session of Parliament.
92 votes for no confidence
The censure of the head of state can only be applied if the Assembly, made up of 137 legislators, obtains a qualified majority of 92 votes.
Equivalent to two thirds of the camera, and if they are not obtained, the process will be archived.
In addition, the legislative action may include a request for the Prosecutor’s Office and other State control agencies to investigate the complaints against the president and include them in a possible instruction of the Public Ministry.
The ruling of the Constitutional Court was given within the period established by the regulations and after last Monday it returned to raffle among its members the judge rapporteur of the case, since a first proposal for a ruling did not reach the six required votes.
Judge Richard Ortiz replaced Teresa Nuques as speaker, whose paper did not receive enough votes.
And constitutional judge Ali Lozada was also delegated to prepare the new draft resolution that was approved tonight.
Lasso warns of a “parliamentary coup”
The opposition accuses Lasso of being the alleged political responsible for an alleged corruption plot in public companies, in which his brother-in-law, businessman Danilo Carrera, appears.
Opponents even maintain that from his position as president he supposedly protected some members of that alleged network.
By asserting that he influenced the filing of an investigation by the anti-drug police into alleged links of businessman Daniel Chérres with a drug trafficking network.
However, Lasso has emphatically denied and accused the opposition of plotting a “parliamentary coup” against him.
In June 2022, Lasso already saved a similar situation by a few votes, when in the midst of the protests led by the indigenous movement against the economic policy of his Government and the high cost of living, the opposition raised a motion for presidential impeachment that did not prosperous.
The Government of Ecuador accepts the ruling of the Court
The Government of Ecuador accepts the ruling of the Constitutional Court that gave way to a political trial of censorship against President Guillermo Lasso, although it rejected that interpellation on the grounds that it has no legal basis.
“Although we do not agree with the decision of the Constitutional Court, we respect the opinion of admissibility on the impeachment” requested by the National Assembly (Parliament), with an opposition majority, according to the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency in a official statement.
The ruling of the country’s highest constitutional control body “in some way validates the arguments raised by the legislature against the president.”
However, he points out that “the Assembly’s approach never had and will never have any legal or political support” and recalls that the Court has criticized that the document delivered on the process has not been elaborated in a neat manner.
Despite the fact that impeachment has been given, “the president and the Government of Ecuador continue to work for all Ecuadorians”, especially for the victims of the rainy season, the earthquake that affected the south of the country in recent days and the an avalanche that devastated a neighborhood in the Andean city of Alausí the previous Sunday, added the Ministry of Communication.
Correa celebrates ruling that allows Lasso to be impeached
The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa (2007-2017) celebrates the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador to give light to the political trial of censorship.
In a message on Twitter, Correa predicted that Lasso’s departure from power is close after the decision of the highest court.
“Bye William! A guy as base and base as you should never have been president. Now you will go, with plenty of merits and together with your buddy (former president) Lenín Moreno (2017-2021), to the garbage can of history, ”wrote the former president.
Correísmo, through the parliamentary bench of the Union for Hope (Unes), is one of the promoters of the political trial against Lasso together with the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC), a former political ally of the ruler.
These two political forces were also joined by some assembly members from the Democratic Left (ID) and the Pachakutik indigenous movement, the political arm of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie).