Ecuador's "Democratic Backsliding" Has Been Ongoing Since 2017, With US support
MAY 23, 2023
BY JOE EMERSBERGER
On May 19, Ecuador’s right wing President Lasso announced that he would not be running in the snap presidential election that was triggered when he dissolved the National Assembly days earlier. A Washington Post article, while flattering to Lasso overall, fretted that Lasso’s move might be a form of “democratic backsliding”. In fact, democratic backsliding in Ecuador has been ongoing since 2017, and it received the enthusiastic endorsement of the Washington Post’s editorial board. Since 2017, Ecuador has been governed by right wing governments that have disregarded Ecuador’s constitution, but their subservience to Washington has assured them positive coverage in western media.
Lasso’s Muerte Cruzada maneuver
On May 17, Lasso invoked article 148 of Ecuador’s constitution which allows the President to dissolve the National Assembly and trigger snap elections for both the presidency and the National Assembly. This mechanism is referred to as “Muerte Cruzada” (mutual death) because both the president and the national assembly must face voters shortly after it is used. Everyone elected in those snap elections may only finish off what is left of the electoral term. In this case, that is roughly two years. Muetre Cruzada can only be used once per four year electoral term.
The justification Lasso gave for using the Muerte Cruzada option was that there was an “internal shock” within the country – a justification that did not require prior approval from the Constitutional Court. (Other justifications would have required Constitutional Court approval according to article 148).
However, Lasso’s use of Muerte Cruzada was of dubious legality when you consider that there was a presidential impeachment process underway – one that had received Constitutional Court approval to proceed. Moreover, Lasso made it undeniably obvious that preventing impeachment was his motivation as even the Washington Post reported. Ironically, the impeachment process was underway only because Lasso and his allies blocked Muerte Cruzada from being invoked by the National Assembly last year (as it can do under article 130 of the constitution, but it failed to get the 92 votes required of the 137 member assembly). Efforts to cut short Lasso’s term through a recall referendum were also blocked by electoral authorities. Despite the very broad latitude article 148 gives the president to use Muerte Cruzada based on his or her “opinion”, it’s hardly clear that it can be used simply to halt a legally-approved impeachment process that’s already underway.
But the Constitutional Court upheld Lasso’s maneuver. That’s very unsurprising if you know that the entire Constitutional Court was illegally fired and replaced in 2018.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/23/ecuadors-democratic-backsliding-has-been-ongoing-since-2017-with-us-support/