After three intermediate quarters, the Chamber of Deputies will deal with the political trial against Sandra Quiñónez this Monday, August 1 at 2:00 p.m. The opponents to the magistrate need 53 votes and apparently, they only have 51 for the impeachment. Since May 2020, there have already been three impeachment attempts with the current one. In the two previous intentions, the difference in favor of the defenders of Quiñónez over the promoters of the trial was overwhelming.
On May 28, 2020, the votes ended with 58 rejecting and only 18 approving. While in the second opportunity, in March 2022, it was not treated due to lack of votes. On that occasion, some 39 senators were against and the remaining 41 in favor, although the voting stage was not reached.
Óscar “Cachito” Salomón, president of the National Congress, expressed that he hopes Quiñónez will show greater speed in the investigations into Horacio Cartes, former president of the Republic. “The caucus and the movement have made the decision to accompany the procedure and we have indeed noticed that those who make up the caucus of ‘Republican Force’ in Deputies are doing so,” he said.
The legislator pointed out that the Senate will take action on the matter as soon as the Deputies approve the document. He warned that the numbers do not yet exist in the Chamber of Deputies, so the weekend will be one of many negotiations. “By mid-afternoon on Monday we will have the final decision of the Lower House because that is what they have promised. In the Senate I see that this possibility exists but I do not want to advance the numbers, speaking with the caucus leaders I see a lot of concern about the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office, “he said.
He announced that they have suspected for a long time that votes are being bought to achieve the rejection of the trial. “There is constant talk of briefcases, and the interference of organized crime in Parliament. That is why we demand that this novel ends as soon as possible in deputies, ”she said.
The attorney general will complete her five-year term in March 2023, that is, she only has eight months left as head of the Public Ministry. Shortly after completing her first year at the helm of the institution in 2019, she has already begun to register citizen protests due to serious irregularities in the investigations of emblematic cases.
