Ecuador’s president declines to run in snap elections after he disbands National Assembly

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador‘s President Guillermo Lasso mentioned Friday he won’t search reelection within the early elections prompted by his determination to dissolve the National Assembly two weeks in the past.

Lasso, who disbanded the meeting simply when it appeared on the verge of ousting him in impeachment proceedings, introduced his determination to not run in Aug. 20 balloting at a information convention surrounded by members of his Cabinet and household.

“This has been the greatest honor of my life, but I love democracy way beyond the role of president,” Lasso mentioned. “If my duty as president requires me to give up my position and protect democracy, then I will do so. Without fear and with a clear conscience.”

Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the beginning with the left-leaning majority coalition within the 137-member National Assembly.

In May, lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings in opposition to him on allegations that he did not intervene to finish a defective contract between the state-owned oil transport firm and a personal tanker firm.

Faced with seemingly elimination from workplace on what he referred to as frivolous prices, Lasso disbanded the National Assembly, calling it “the best possible decision,” giving Ecuadorians “the power to decide their future in the next elections.”

Ecuador‘s structure features a provision that enables the president to disband the meeting throughout a political disaster, however then requires new elections for each the meeting and presidency.

Mauricio Alarcón, an analyst with Ecuador‘s nongovernment organization Citizenship and Development Foundation, praised Lasso’s determination to step apart, telling The Associated Press that the extent of confidence within the president “had hit rock bottom.”