The Americas | A desperate measure

Ecuador’s president dissolves Congress to avoid impeachment

Guillermo Lasso faces a backlash for wielding the previously untried rule

16 May 2023, Ecuador, Quito: Guillermo Lasso, president of Ecuador, speaks during a session of the National Assembly in which opposition deputies are trying to start impeachment proceedings against him. Ecuador's parliament has initiated impeachment proceedings against President Guillermo Lasso. The deputies voted on Tuesday evening (local time) with a simple majority to open a so-called political trial against the head of state. The conservative president is accused of having known about corruption cases at state-owned companies but of having done nothing about it. Photo: Diego Alban/dpa — Will his bet pay off?Image: DPA

May 18th 2023|Quito

On May 17th Guillermo Lasso, Ecuador’s conservative president, used a previously untried constitutional rule known as muerte cruzada (“mutual death”) to dissolve the National Assembly, after it looked poised to impeach him. “I am obliged to respond to the political crisis in which the country is mired,” he said in a nationwide address. He accused the National Assembly of having a “political project to destabilise the government, democracy and the state”. Snap presidential and parliamentary elections will follow within 97 days. Until then Mr Lasso will rule by executive decree. The president started off by signing an order which lowered income taxes. He said this would help around half a million families.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “A desperate measure”