Solomonic decisions ahead

ECUADOR - In Brief 30 Sep 2021 by Magdalena Barreiro

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As we expected, five of the seven members of the Administrative Committee from the Assembly (CAL) rejected the bill Creating Opportunities submitted personally by president Guillermo Lasso for the legislators’ approval. They justified their decision alleging the project referred to multiple topics, which would be against the constitution. Members voting against the project included two members from Pachakutik, one member from Izquierda Democratica, one member from UNES and one former member of Izquierda Democratica. The government has difficult decisions ahead. One possibility is to divide the bill into different pieces, putting together those with the character of economic urgency as the tax reform, necessary for the approval of the IMF program, and sending the rest –-including the labor reform which is not part of the IMF requirements --as regular organic laws that might take too long to be approved. The government cannot present the complete bill in a referendum because it has not been denied by the plenary yet, which is the constitutional requirement. Thus, it could consult the public on different topics related to the bill. This is a risky path that could take over 90 days. Or it could make the above-mentioned required changes, send the bills again for CAL’s approval and wait for the plenary vote. If the plenary rejects the bills, then the government could seek the public’s approval through a referendum. It is clear that the Assembly’s strategy is to gain sufficient time until the government’s political muscle loses strength to put the referendum in jeopardy. Either path has its shortcomings and difficulties. We are waiting to see which one is selected by Presiden...