The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, has denounced that Ecuadorian legislators demanded favors, including personal ones, to vote in favor of the investment stimulus project presented by the Executive. Lasso's revelation came after Ecuador's congress denied and shelved the bill.
Lasso posted on his social media that the investment bill did not get the 70 votes to pass because the Executive did not accept the blackmail of the legislators. Although he did not name names, the president explained that some congressmen asked for positions, “hospitals, electricity companies, ministries” and other cash.
“It is the height of the heights of those assembly members who have come to ask for cash from the Government. We cannot allow the corruption of tax evaders, who want to change their vote because we don't charge them taxes. In this country you have to tell the truth: some for public office and others for money, and others for tax evasion,” Lasso said with a stern tone in a video that was broadcast on his official accounts.
The president who last Tuesday, in an interview with Infobae, did not want to advance what plan B would be if the law was not passed, now said that as president he will seek the “best constitutional paths” to achieve the opportunities Ecuadorians deserve. According to Lasso, “this National Assembly has turned its back on Ecuadorian women and young people by denying them the opportunity for employment and prosperity.” In addition, the president ruled that lawmakers “are thieves and corrupt.”
There were 87 votes in the Legislature in favor of denying and filing the investment bill. The votes came from benches of Union for Hope (UNES) related to correísmo, the indigenous bench of Pachakutik (PK) and the Democratic Left (ID).
Hours before the vote, President Guillermo Lasso denounced that the former candidate for the presidency for the ID, Xavier Hervas, asked that no taxes be charged so that his party's bench votes in favor of the law: “There are politicians who just want to talk to the president and ask 'get rid of me from the SRI ( Internal Revenue), that they do not charge me'. That is corruption, and I am not here to defend any particular interest of anyone.” President Lasso publicly gave the name Hervas and questioned his status as an entrepreneur: “He says he is an entrepreneur, and I don't believe that: he is either an entrepreneur or he evades taxes”. Hervas and the ID bench have denied Lasso's accusations and even warned that there may be judicial consequences for the president's statements.
The investment bill that was denied was sent to the National Assembly as an urgent economic law, which meant that legislators would deal with the bill immediately in no more than 30 days. On March 24, the deadline for the procedure expired and the law was denied. The draft contained 260 articles defining new rules for public-private partnerships, the creation of free zones, and amendments to 18 existing codes and laws.
The legislator and president of the Economic Development Commission of the Ecuadorian congress, Daniel Noboa, who led the process of the investment proposal within the Legislature, through a statement, said that the National Assembly “has not tuned in with the great demands of citizens” and that “, the most sensible is to go to our homes and call cross death. The country cannot stand to walk aimlessly and under the constant questioning of its actions.” Crusader death is the popular name of the constitutional figure of Ecuador for the early dissolution of representative powers. Under certain parameters, such as serious internal shock or blockade of the national development plan, the president or the National Assembly, can use the mechanism to dissolve the congress and call for new elections early. Until the new elections are held, the president must govern under decree law. Lasso assured Infobae that the government has not considered this option.
Although Lasso has blamed the assembly members for not passing the law, public opinion has received serious questions about the lack of political operators who can build bridges between the Executive and the Legislative relationship, the remarks point to Government Minister Alexandra Vela, who is in charge of security and the political management, two key points of Guillermo Lasso's administration.
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