Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso could face an impeachment trial in the coming days after the country’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday to move forward with the case against him.
The opposition-controlled legislature voted with a simple majority of 88 votes out of 116 in attendance to proceed with the process. An absolute majority of 92 votes out of 132 seats is needed to ensure Laso’s removal.
The vote deepened a long-simmering political crisis, as Lasso appeared poised for a showdown with an increasingly hostile Congress. Both the opposition and Lasso’s defense teams will be able to present evidence before Congress.
Raso, a millionaire and former banker, has been accused by opposition lawmakers of corruption related to contracts with state oil shipping company Flopec. He has denied the allegations, which he described as politically motivated. The contract in question was signed in 2018, three years before he took office.
Russo’s attorney, Edgar Neira, told the media that the lawmaker’s move Tuesday was constitutionally invalid.
But with Lasso removed, “all Ecuadorians will win,” Marcela Holguin, an opposition lawmaker and congressional vice-president, said in a statement after the vote. “We will give them an answer to let them know that the tragic policies of the Lasso government have left us in an abandoned situation.”
Before being removed from office, Lasso could dissolve Congress and trigger presidential and legislative elections under a clause in Ecuador’s constitution known as “dying together.” In this case, he will govern by decree for six months during the election period – supervised by the Constitutional Court.
In an interview with the Financial Times last month, he said he would activate the clause if Congress removed him.
A report by parliament’s judicial oversight committee on Saturday found Lasso “has not been proven” to “benefit from or benefit a third party through the misuse of public funds”.
But the nonbinding report recommending abandoning impeachment proceedings was not approved by the committee, with five of the nine members voting against it.
Russo’s allies say they have the votes to block impeachment, though support for the ongoing proceedings on Tuesday suggests he may struggle to survive.
The largest party in Congress – the party of former President Rafael Correa, who now lives in Belgium to avoid being jailed in Ecuador for corruption – said its 47 lawmakers would support the removal of Lasso. They all voted on Tuesday to continue the process.
The second-largest Aboriginal Pachakutik party in Congress was divided on the issue, with 12 votes in favor of continuing the bid and 11 absent.
The right-wing Social Christian Party, which broke with Lasso before he takes office in May 2021, also supports Lasso’s ouster, although it has lost some members.
Sebastián Hurtado, head of political risk consultancy Profitas in Quito, said that while not all lawmakers who supported Tuesday’s motion would necessarily support impeachment, “today’s vote shows that opposition The faction is not far from the number of votes needed to secure Lasso’s resignation.”
“The vote is obviously close and a lot can happen before impeachment, but I don’t think Lasso’s prospects have improved after today’s vote.”