With five votes in favor and two against, CAL admitted the file for the second time, now corrected with the observations made previously, although users on social networks warned that the name of the president is misspelled in the official document, since they omitted the surname Lasso.

Although the implications of this formal detail are not yet known, in theory the Constitutional Court would have six days from now to issue an opinion of admissibility on the procedure that could bring forward the end of the presidential term.

The assembly members proposing the interpellation based the request for trial of the ruler on article 129 of the Constitution and on the sections on concussion and embezzlement of the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP).

Legislator Viviana Veloz, one of the applicants for the process, affirmed that as legislators they cannot act with their backs turned to the Ecuadorian people and urged the Court to issue an opinion adjusted to the law and in line with the historical reality of the country.

The president reached this point after the scandal that links his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera and his government officials with an alleged network of corruption in public companies and apparent links to drug trafficking, specifically with the Albanian mafia.

While the government denies the accusations and describes them as destabilization attempts, social organizations support Lasso’s removal from power, not only for these crimes, but also for state abandonment.

The different steps of the procedure could take a total of approximately a month and a half and in the end, 92 votes out of a total of 137 assembly members are necessary to remove the president.

In that case, new elections would not be called, but Vice President Alfredo Borrero would take office.

ef/oda/avr