Correa Directly Threatens Democracy

ECUADOR - In Brief 23 Feb 2017 by Magdalena Barreiro

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After admitting the fact of a second electoral round, President Correa´s behavior was quite erratic. First, he said he had no fears of the outcome on April 2 since Guillermo Lasso is the easiest candidate to defeat. But at the same time he threatened to apply the mechanism of “cross dead”. This mechanism is contemplated under the Ecuadorian constitution in the case the President of the Republic takes over another power, if there is a severe political crisis, or if there is internal commotion. Such an extreme measure requires the vote of at least 92 legislators out of the total of 137. According to the current electoral projections, Alianza Pais would have at least 69 with a probable maximum of 75 legislators which is not enough to implement cross dead. It will require of political agreements that might prove difficult since the process requires the forced resignation both from the President and all legislators and of calling new elections for all dignities. The saddest part of such an inopportune and immature comment, is that President Correa threatened to do so “if the opposition does not behave well, if they start chasing us and destroying all we have accomplished”. Such a statement reveals not only the dictatorial ways of the President but also the fear that more members of his government –including vice-president Glass –are charged of acts of corruption linked to the Brazilian firm Oderbrecht or others. Given the current reaction from the people to the delay in announcing the presidential election results, such a bold move might face an even sharper popular reaction --not to speak of a possible intervention from the armed forces who also wrote a note stating their ...