Lasso's Impeachment was Approved by the Constitutional Court

ECUADOR - In Brief 30 Mar 2023 by Magdalena Barreiro

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Late last night, the Constitutional Court issued a partial approval for Guillermo Lasso's impeachment accepting jugdgement for bribery and rejecting the charge of concussion.  This ruling does not make the President's situation any easier.  The ball is again in the Assembly's field in this is what those seeking the impeachment wanted.  The process could last up to 45 days because the ruling has to be analyzed firts by the fiscalization commission in the Assembly before going for the plenary vote.   Albeit it is not clear yet if the proponents of the impeachment will gather the necessary votes since some legislators that voted in favor of the impeachment report declared they are not in favor of the impeachment, the probability that those legislators turn around their decision is high.   In case Lasso opts for the cross death process under Constitutional Article 148, he could invoke two reasons out the three considered that do not require approval from the Constitutional Court.  The first reason is a consistent and unjustified obstruction of the completion of the national government plan.  The second is the existence of a severe internal commotion. Any of these two reasons just require an executive decree and Lasso could disolve the Assembly and could governm through executive decrees. But, it is not as simple as it sounds.  UNES and their supporting groups together with Leonidas Iza, head of CONAIE would most probably make the government's life a nightmare and together with them, the life of all Ecuadorians.  But, as we said in our last report, if the president goes down, so will his enemies at the Asssembly, so their desire to remain in their posts as well as the suppo...