“I will not accept the nomination to be a presidential candidate”

First modification: 06/02/2023 – 22:26

It’s official. After Ecuadorian officials anticipated it in interviews and reportsPresident Guillermo Lasso dispelled doubts and confirmed that he does not seek to be reelected.

The 67-year-old president, who has governed by decree since the dissolution of parliament, assured that he seeks to focus his efforts to advance in the greatest number of projects that benefit the country, while he enjoys these powers.

When he gave his speech giving the announcement, Lasso reviewed the two years that he has been in office and highlighted the successes of his Administration: “Today, after deep reflection, I want to announce that I will not accept the candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic for the elections of August”.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to campaign when the country needs me dedicated to its citizens, when there are still goals to achieve and challenges to overcome,” he said.

In addition, he declared that his decision responds to a democratic commitment. “Far above the office of president, I love democracy and the freedom that each Ecuadorian citizen enjoys to pursue their dreams, and if my duty as president requires me to step down from my position in order to help protect democracy, so I will,” he added.

authoritarianism warnings

The Ecuadorian president also ruled that citizens must choose between “democracy and authoritarianism, in the next elections.”

“I am convinced that the democrats have ample possibilities of prevailing, but no one can lose sight of the fact that in Ecuador there is a political sector, which, although it is a minority, must be defeated and faced in unity by all the groups that love the democracy,” Lasso said.

His words allude to the sector of the left opposition, whose members brought forward a legal process against him. In his address, he emphasized several of the legal actions for which he has been accused.

The president ruled that since he came to power he has been the victim of “attacks characterized by a single feature: institutional disloyalty and disloyalty to the Ecuadorian people.” SAccording to him, they have been carried out through “political tricks that have violated the legal framework.”

When two weeks ago I made the decision to dissolve the National Assembly to make way for new elections, I did not do it to avoid the trial, which we would very surely have won, but to stop this macabre plan of institutional usurpation that is still underway today, shamelessly in full view of everyone, Lasso said.

The ‘cross death’ decreed by Lasso

On Wednesday, May 17, the president of Ecuador used the constitutional measure known as ‘cross death’, with which he dissolved the National Assembly while this body advanced in a political trial against him on accusations of embezzlement of public funds.

Lasso has repeatedly denied that these accusations are true and has assured that they are just “political maneuvers” to wrest power from him.

Regarding the constitutional measure that he deployed, Lasso said that it was an “act of generosity for the country”, since now his presidential term is shortened and someone else may come to govern.

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presidential candidates

Although not many names of the Palace contenders have been known carondeletin local media there is already talk of former legislator Fernando Villavicencio, security specialist Jan Topic, businessman and former parliamentarian Daniel Noboa, and former presidential candidate Yaku Pérez, who was close to going to the second round in the 2021 elections.

In Quito, the candidate of the Citizen Revolution (RC) is still expected, a party led by former progressive president Rafael Correas (2007-2021) and which gained strength since the great victories it achieved in the local elections in February.

With Reuters, EFE and local media