The Chamber of Deputies filed a new impeachment attempt against Sandra Quiñónez, state attorney general. With 15 votes in favor of the trial, 28 against, 3 abstentions and 34 absences, the document went to file. The promoters tried unsuccessfully to leave the session without a quorum to avoid reaching a vote.
In four years at the head of the Public Ministry, since March 2018, there were three impeachment attempts that Quiñónez had to endure. He still has seven months left in his term, until March 2023. This last trial attempt began on July 24, but since there were no votes for his dismissal, the promoters were delaying the treatment for two weeks, 53 votes were needed to its approval, at one point, only reached 51 votes. The main criticisms of Quiñónez’s management focus on few advances in cases that affect Horacio Cartes, former president of the Republic, as well as people close to him.
Edgar Acosta, a national deputy for the PLRA, stated for 730 AM that they sought the postponement sine die (no date set). “We thought that they only had 26 votes plus that of their allies, which is around three, but we were surprised that they reached a quorum,” he explained. Emilio Pavon, Pastor Vera Bejarano, Celso Kennedy, Fernando Oreggioni and Hugo Capurro, were some of the liberals who voted in favor of the trial, but by giving the quorum with their presence, they ended up being functional for Quiñónez’s defenders.
Acosta warned that on April 30, 2023, the day of the presidential elections, citizens will exercise the “punishment vote” against the protectors of the attorney general. Kattya González, national deputy for the Encuentro Nacional party (PEN), spoke on networks about this situation; “Not having the necessary votes, we decided to withdraw so that it is not archived. We all had to withdraw to leave without a quorum and expose Chartism and its allies. Claim the liberals who gave a quorum for the rejection of the impeachment, ”she questioned.
A week ago, the Chartists requested the convening of an extraordinary session to send the document to the archive, but Ángel Paniagua, vice president of the Chamber, decided not to convene the session, avoiding the treatment. Just a week later, they got it.
