August elections to follow ‘Mutual Death’ in Ecuador

Image by Ojalá.

Reportage • Gabriela Peralta & Ana Acosta • May 26, 2023 • Originally published May 17, 2023 by Wambra Community Media • Leer en castellano

Last week Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso signed Decree 741, putting in action a rare maneuver known as “Muerte Cruzada” or “Mutual Death.” Mutual Death is the term for the two articles in the Constitution of Ecuador that allow the simultaneous dissolution of the Assembly and the removal of the president. 

Article 130 allows the Assembly to remove the president from office for overreach, due to a political crisis or in the case of severe domestic unrest. And Article 148 states the president of the republic can dissolve the National Assembly if it “overreaches functions not constitutionally assigned, after a favorable ruling by the Constitutional Court; if it obstructs, repeatedly and without justification, the carrying out of the National Development Plan; or due to a political crisis or domestic unrest.” 

Guillermo Lasso chose the latter, and Decree 741 dissolves the National Assembly on the grounds of political crisis and domestic unrest, requires the National Electoral Council (CNE) to call elections in seven days, and orders the entire National Assembly, including staff, to cease activities.

Even though Mutual Death is a tool in the Constitution, Lasso’s decision to dissolve the Assembly comes in the middle of the impeachment process against him for his role in the embezzlement of public money for the transportation of oil by state-owned Ecuadorian Oil Fleet (FLOPEC), which cost the government over six million dollars. 

Through Decrees 107 and 163, Lasso appointed Hernán Luque to chair the board of the Public Enterprises Coordinating Company (EMCO), giving Luque decisionmaking power over all public companies. Luque is involved a corruption network and is currently a fugitive. Previously he was commercial Vice President of the Bank of Guayaquil, and he’s a close friend of Lasso.

Lasso issued Decree 741 in the early hours of May 17. At a press conference hours later, the Armed Forces publicly backed Lasso’s decree and said they’d oversee its enforcement due to its “constitutionality.” The National Assembly was surrounded by police and soldiers, and the assembly members were denied entry.

With this decree, Lasso will remain president for approximately six months, until new representatives are elected. 

According to Ecuador’s Democratic Code, elections must be held no more than 90 days after elections are called. This means that Ecuadorians will vote for a new president, vice president and assembly members in August. Those elected in August will stay in office for two years until elections in 2025, when the are eligible for reelection.

In the meantime, Lasso will govern by decree, but within certain limits. The Constitutional Court will supervise the decrees and must emit favorable rulings before they are enforced. 

Decrees can only be issued related to economic emergencies, and can’t address other matters. Lasso has already issued the first decree, which introduces a tax reform. Meanwhile, Labor Minister Patricio Donoso announced he would propose a decree pertaining to labor reform. For his part, the Minister of Public Works said he would propose another relating to the government’s bidding process.

David Cordero, a constitutional lawyer and human rights expert told Entrevistas Wambra that the Mutual Death decree violates the Ecuadorian Constitution because the legislation sets specific grounds for the president to dissolve the Assembly, and the impeachment of the president is neither a political crisis nor a serious domestic commotion. 

“He should have responded to the accusations of the assembly members. That’s what an impeachment is for,” said Cordero. “The president has thrown quite a few tantrums in the assembly. On several occasions he’s been called to respond to different accusations and he hasn’t showed up, sending representatives in his stead.”

According to Cordero, Lasso is circumventing constitutional, citizen and democratic controls. 

If any of the country’s political forces or social movements want to take action, an constitutional challenge may be filed with the Constitutional Court regarding whether the requirements for the dissolution of the National Assembly were met. 

The Partido Social Cristiano (Social Christian Party, PSC) has already announced it will file a challenge before the Constitutional Court to suspend the Mutual Death decree.

“Lasso is misusing Mutual Death because he dissolved the Assembly without abiding by the Constitution, and he mobilized the military, as a scenario of social protest seems to be emerging.” Dissolving the Assembly and militarizing the streets is, according to Cordero, akin to a coup d’etat.

Social organizations announced mobilizations demanding the removal of Lasso’s government due to corruption, the increase in violence and the economic crisis.

The Popular Front [a national organization of 14 unions] and the National Educators Union (UNE) are among those that have spoken out. 

President Lasso, “left without popular and political support, hours away from being ousted by the National Assembly, resorted Mutual Death in an unconstitutional manner given that there is no social disturbances,” said Isabel Vargas, President of the UNE, in a press conference.

Nelson Erazo, President of the Popular Front, called on civil society to remain on alert and said that “the streets will be the theaters where the rights and freedoms of the Ecuadorian people are defended.”

Marcela Holguín, a member of the assembly with the Citizen Revolution party, said the decree issued by president Lasso is illegal because there is no domestic disturbances or serious political upheaval in Ecuador. “This morning, Lasso blocked the vote on the impeachment trial, which definitely was the biggest trial in history,” said Holguín “It was a last minute strategy by a desperate president to cling once more to power instead of resigning.”

For his part, Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), said that his organization’s Political Council is calling for local assemblies, and for all social sectors to “consolidate an assembly of social and popular power to build consensus and confront the dictatorial model.” 

CONAIE declared it will remain on high alert, and demanded the armed forces respect human and constitutional rights. “We are concerned by the attitude of the public forces that choose to support a fallen president and turn their back on 90 per cent of society,” said Iza. “We hold the armed forces and the police responsible for any attack against citizens, organizations, or against the rights and interests of the nation.”