The Parliament of Ecuador gave the green light this Tuesday to the continuation of the political trial against President Guillermo Lasso, international media report.
Lasso, accused by the opposition of embezzlement of public funds, could face dismissal this May, in accordance with BBC World.
The Ecuadorian National Assembly, with an opposition majority, approved the resolution with a vote in favor of 88 of the 116 legislators present. In this way, it easily exceeded the half plus one required to move it forward, the British outlet specifies.
Another 23 congressmen were against, while five abstained.
The vote was carried out following a motion by legislator Viviana Veloz of the Union for Hope (UNES) movement, led by former President Rafael Correa.
In addition to UNES, various political groups such as the Social Christian Party (PSC), the Pachakutik indigenous movement and independents also supported the initiative, the report said.
Lasso’s political trial will continue in a future session, in which the accusers and the defense must present their evidence, he explains BBC.
According to article 2 of the resolution approved on Tuesday, the president of the National Assembly, Virgilio Saquicela, must continue “immediately” with the processing of the impeachment process against the president. To do this, he has to convene, within a period of five days, a plenary session to question the president, he adds.
The information indicates that the vote for the censure and possible dismissal of the Ecuadorian president is scheduled between May 20 and 22 and details that to dismiss the president a minimum of 92 votes out of a total of 137 deputies would be necessary.
The government and its allies consider the trial illegal, since there is no approved report from the Oversight Commission. Said entity had recommended releasing Lasso from responsibilities due to lack of evidence.
According to the opposition, the president incurred in an alleged embezzlement by learning of alleged irregularities in a contract signed by the state company Flota Petrolera del Ecuador (Flopec) and the private firm Amazonas Tanker and not having acted to avoid further damage to the State, Explain the agency EFE.
Instead, the president’s defense maintains that the contracts were signed under the previous administration of former President Lenín Moreno (2017-2021) and that under Lasso’s mandate a review was requested from the Comptroller’s Office (Court of Accounts) to renew them under the conditions and observations made by that body, adds the Spanish media.
The opposition promoted the political trial after the defeat of the ruling party in the electoral appointment of February 5, when the Government lost the referendum proposed to make reforms to the Constitution and correísmo was the great winner of the local elections.
According to EFEin the event that sufficient votes are achieved for the dismissal of Lasso, the current vice president, Alfredo Borrero, should assume the Presidency.
Faced with this possibility, the president could resort to the so-called “cross death”, a constitutional figure that allows the president to dissolve the Assembly and call early general elections to govern until then through decrees.
