The vice president of Ecuador, Verónica Abad, was suspended from office for 150 days for unjustified abandonment of her duties in accordance with a sanction imposed on her by the Ministry of Labor of the Andean country. It is the second sanction in less than a week against the senior official, who maintains public differences with President Daniel Noboa.
The ministerial resolution was notified at midnight, as Abad’s lawyer, Dominique Dávila, confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday. The measure indicates that the vice president committed a “serious misconduct” for which she must serve the suspension, including Saturdays and Sundays, without pay.
The vice president was accused by the Foreign Ministry before the Ministry of Labor for not having complied with the order to travel on September 1 from Israel – where she works as an ambassador designated by the president – to Turkey due to the war conflict that the first country is facing. . Abad arrived in Ankara eight days later.
Abad had justified that the trip to Turkey was not “properly prepared” and that abuses were committed because the government suggested “that I leave my children in Israel to go to Turkey alone.” He has also said that his dismissal is being sought to “avoid the presidential succession.”
Dávila, the lawyer, described the sanction as “very serious” and explained that it is not classified in labor law.
“She is suspended from the position of vice president, not even from her duties as ambassador,” questioned the defender and assured that it was a “trick to prevent the presidential succession.” An eventual appeal to the measure will be decided in the next few hours, he added.
Abad’s fate is of special importance for President Noboa, who aspires to a new mandate in the February 2025 elections, and will have to request a license to carry out the campaign, according to experts.
According to the Constitution, Abad had to assume the presidency, but with the latest sanction imposed, the succession is stopped, jurist André Benavides told the AP, and stated that “the order is violated,” since both the president and the vice president They have a special regime of political control in the Assembly. He added that the sanction imposed does not correspond to the alleged infraction.
The expert added that, although the measure is appealable, the effects of the decision are not suspended and any measure would take longer to be resolved than established for suspension.
Abad was also fined $8,500 on Tuesday by Ecuador’s Contentious Electoral Court for carrying out an early election campaign in 2023 when she was a candidate for mayor of the city of Cuenca.
For this and other actions, Abad denounced President Noboa and three government officials, including the chancellor, Gabriela Sommerfeld, for allegedly committing eight acts of gender-based political violence against him. On Friday, the hearing was held before the court that will resolve the action in the coming days.
Political gender violence is considered a “very serious” electoral offense in Ecuadorian legislation and is punishable by a fine, dismissal and/or suspension of the rights to political participation for up to four years.
The relationship between the president and the vice president has been fractured since the electoral period, without the reasons being clear. Noboa has called her “disloyal,” while Abad assures that Noboa’s government seeks to pressure her to resign.
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