Quito – The constitutional resource of the “cross death” that Guillermo Lasso resorted to to avoid being dismissed by Parliament is a figure that appears in article 148 of the Constitution. This allows the Executive to dissolve the National Assembly -unicameral Parliament-, while granting a maximum period of seven days to the National Electoral Council (CNE) to call new presidential and legislative elections. The ordinary term for an electoral process to be carried out after its call is 120 days. However, in the extraordinary case of the dissolution of the National Assembly, the CNE can order the holding of the elections in “a period of less than 90 days, counted from the call.” In other words, the electoral process should not take place beyond the month of September.
The new authorities that are elected will be in office until the end of the current period.
Until the development of the electoral process and the installation of the new National Assembly, Lasso may issue decree-laws of necessity and economic urgency, which must have the favorable opinion of the Constitutional Court and may be approved or repealed by the new legislature that takes office. until the end of the period. Lasso and the deputies took office in May 2021, and his term ends in 2025.
The Constitution establishes three causes for the Executive to declare the “cross death”, including a serious political crisis and internal commotion, the reason invoked today by Lasso, who attributed this state to the political crisis generated by the impeachment trial against him.
The other causes are that Parliament assumes functions that are not constitutionally its responsibility, or if, repeatedly and unjustifiably, the Legislature obstructs the execution of the National Development Plan.
In turn, the National Assembly, with other causes, can also invoke the mechanism to remove the President of the Republic without prior impeachment, hence the name “cross death.”
Source: Ambito
