Ecuadorians Will Not Be Able to Remove President Lasso

Electoral authorities denied the delivery of forms to collect the signatures of citizens who support a recall process against Guillermo Lasso.

On Monday, the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) denied a request to start the recall process of President Guillermo Lasso and Vice President Alfredo Borrero.

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According to the Constitution and the laws in force in Ecuador, a recall process may be carried out once the President has completed the first year of his term. The recall request must be supported by the signatures of at least 15 percent of the citizens registered to vote, that is to say, about two million signatures according to the last electoral register.

In order to initiate this democratic process, the electoral authority must provide the applicants for the recall with official forms to collect the signatures of the citizens who support the removal of the president and vice president. And this is what did not happen

Controlled by right-wing parties supporting the current government, 4 out of 5 CNE members refused to submit the forms after accepting a legal report according to which the petition against Lasso and Borrero did not meet all the requirements.

Among other things, this legal report holds that the applicants for the recall process did not present evidence that Lasso has failed to comply with the government plan that he presented when he was a candidate for the presidency.

The recall process request was activated on May 25 by the Popular Coordinator for the Recall Process, a group of citizens living in Guayaquil City led by Kerly Carvajal. After knowing the refusal of the CNE authorities, this social organization said it will file an appeal.

On June 28, Lasso also managed to overcome another political process against him. Progressive parties did not get 92 votes within the National Assembly to remove the President as a result of the serious crisis the country was going through during the strike convened by the Indigenous organizations.