The president of the Andean country made a special appearance on the occasion of the second anniversary of his government at a time when his nation is in a pre-electoral situation after he decided to dissolve parliament to avoid a political trial against him that seemed like it could end with his mandate prematurely. Lasso defended the data from his management and accused the opposition of being the cause of the political crisis due to its parliamentary blockade.
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As the closure of “a long chapter of deinstitutionalization and abuse of power, led by political sectors that had set the cooptation of the entire State as their goal.” This is how Guillermo Lasso defined his decision to resort to the so-called “cross death”, a system that allows the Ecuadorian parliament to be dissolved to call elections in the short term.
The president was very critical of the leftist opposition with which he has had to deal in the National Assembly during the address to Ecuadorians on the occasion of the second anniversary of his government. A distinguished date that, however, comes in the midst of a pre-electoral environment and a deep political crisis that has shaken Ecuador in recent weeks.
The opposition has harshly criticized the decision to call the death cross and go to elections made by Lasso because they consider that it has been an attempt to save his position at a time when the political trial that the president was facing in the legislative body for alleged corruption could get ahead. This decision allows the head of the Ecuadorian State to govern for a time by decree.
However, Lasso affirmed in his speech that, with this, he put an end to “a political confrontation that had the country immersed in a crisis that worsened over time” and considered that the greatest recognition of this decision is the popular support when asserting that “cross death” has the support of 80% of Ecuadorians.
Defense of his management at a difficult time for the ruling party
During his speech, in addition to commenting on the current situation, Lasso detailed the data that his government leaves at the end of the second year, especially the positive ones. Lasso has refused to be a candidate on the part of the conservative sector of the country and at the moment there is no profile in sight that wants to assume the task for next August 20.
Its main defense asset is the economic factor. Lasso highlighted the reduction of the fiscal deficit from 7,500 million dollars to less than 2,000 million dollars, he noted that as of December 2022, Ecuador had inflation of 3.7% and by 2023 he expects it to be the lowest with 1.4% and a growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of 3%, according to the projections of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
By the end of 2023, the level of public debt will have been reduced to 55%, that is, 12 percentage points less than three years ago, and he stressed that, during his term, “1.1 million Ecuadorians have come out of poverty, and around 500,000 jobs have been created”.
However, his government has been characterized by a loss of security in some regions of the Pacific coast, where the rise of power of criminal gangs and drug traffickers has caused homicides to skyrocket, as have those killed in prison riots. Lasso has tried to tackle this issue by militarizing the streets and declaring curfews in the affected regions, but the climate of insecurity does not seem to have abated.
Over the next few weeks, it will be glimpsed what the political future of Ecuador will be like in the face of the elections scheduled for August, a date where the ruling party will have to rebuild itself almost completely in the face of the rise of the correista formations, linked to the left and the indigenous movement. .
with EFE
