After correcting the errors previously identified, lawmakers Viviana Veloz, Mireya Pazmiño, Rodrigo Fajardo and Pedro Zapata resubmitted the official document this Thursday with a request to impeach the president politically.
Proponents of the interpellation indicated that the ruler’s trial would require the use of the two articles on concussion and embezzlement that were in effect prior to August 2021, the effective date of the changes to the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP).
Amid disputes over whether or not the deadline for proceeding has passed, the President of the National Assembly (Parliament) convened the Legislative Administration Council (CAL) this Friday to consider the petition.
If approved in this second attempt, the document would go to the Constitutional Court, a body that has six days to render an admissibility verdict, with an application that could bring forward the end of Lasso’s term in office.
The ruler reached this point after the scandal that has linked his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera and officials in his government to an alleged corruption network in public companies and apparent links to drug trafficking, particularly the Albanian mafia.
While the government rejects the allegations, calling them attempts at destabilization, social organizations support Lasso’s ouster not only because of these crimes, but also because of state duties.
The various steps of the process could take around a month and a half in total, and in the end 92 votes out of a total of 137 MPs are required to remove the President.
jha/avr