[Politics] What is it and what does the "cross death" decreed by the president of Ecuador imply?

[Draeno]

 

The president of Ecuador, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, has decreed the dissolution of the National Assembly, with an opposition majority, after the Legislature initiated a political trial against the president the day before for alleged corruption and which could have ended in his dismissal.

What is "cross death"?
The movement ordered by Lasso is known as "cross death", because just as it dissolves Congress, it also forces the president to leave office. Hence, the name given to the mechanism.

This also implies that early elections must be called.

It is a democratic decision not only because it is constitutional, but because it gives the Ecuadorian people back the possibility of deciding,” Lasso said in a speech.

Why did Lasso decree it?
The president decreed the dissolution of Congress under the argument of serious political crisis and internal commotion.

Basically, this is interpreted as the Legislative is hindering the possibility of governing the country.

When should elections be called?
According to the Constitution, within a maximum period of seven days after the publication of the dissolution decree, the electoral body, at the request of the president, must call legislative and presidential elections to complete the current four-year term.

Elections must be held within six months. Until the installation of the new Assembly, Lasso will be able to govern issuing decree-laws of economic urgency, with the approval of the Constitutional Court.

As Franklin Ramírez, professor of the political sociology program at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Ecuador, had told this newspaper, "the problem is not so much his political suicide, but that Ecuador would experience an electoral process in order to year and another in February 2025. In other words, in more or less 15 months it would go through two general elections, and that is a scenario of greater institutional uncertainty.”

Has it been applied before?
The constitutional mechanism of "cross death" was introduced in 2008, during the government of Rafael Correa, and has never been applied.

However, the current political crisis in Ecuador has revived the ghosts of the political instability that the country experienced between 1997 and 2005, a period in which three rulers elected at the polls were overthrown.

What could happen?
According to analysts, the option of "cross death" is not only Lasso's political suicide, but it could be taken advantage of by correísmo.

"They think that if early elections are held in this context of widespread discontent with the government, they could regain power," journalist Arturo Torres told the BBC.

What is certain is that the “cross death” is expected to unleash a wave of protests across the country.

What caused the “cross death”?
Lasso decreed the dissolution of Congress one day after the impeachment trial began against him for alleged corruption. At the request of the Legislature, the president categorically defended his innocence.

The president is accused of an alleged embezzlement in the management of the state shipping company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (Flopec).

According to correísmo, with 49 seats, the president decided to continue with a contract that was signed before he took office, despite reports that it was harmful to the State.

 

https://www.elespectador.com/mundo/america/que-es-y-que-implica-la-muerte-cruzada-que-decreto-el-presidente-de-ecuador-noticias-hoy/