MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador's elections to be set for Aug. 20?

In the meantime, Lasso will try “to do in six months what we had planned to do in two years.”

Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) President Diana Atamaint Thursday said the snap elections could be held on Aug. 20 with a possible runoff on Oct. 15, it was reported in Quito.

President Guillermo Lasso Wednesday decreed the so-called “cross death” pursuant to Article 148 of the Constitution whereby he dissolved the National Assembly and will rule by decree-laws until the new authorities are sworn in. The country's Parliament was seeking to impeach him from office. “The opposition did not have enough votes to remove me. But this is not a question of votes. This is a question that goes beyond that: I have chosen to govern six months in purgatory instead of two years in hell,” Lasso told El País Thursday.

In this scenario, Atamaint insisted that the CNE must call the elections within 90 days from Lasso's decision and added that she believed there will be no major changes to the dates her agency has in mind.

She also explained that the electoral campaign will last “a maximum of fifteen days”, and specified that for these elections the same electoral roll of the Feb. 5 referendum will be used.

“The country expects to return to normality and tranquility... And the electoral function is fully aware and we appeal to the political organizations to also have that patriotic behavior and at the height of what the political system of Ecuador demands”, said Atamaint, who also explained that both the now former Assembly members and Lasso will be able to run “as long as they meet the requirements and have no impediments”. The newly-elected authorities will serve for the rest of the respective legislative and presidential terms until 2025.

Meanwhile, Ecuador's Constitutional Court also said Thursday that it rejected six unconstitutionality lawsuits filed against Decree 741 of the so-called “crossed death” procedure, which the President issued in view of the “serious political crisis and internal commotion” the country was going through.

The Constitutional Court also said it had no jurisdiction to rule on the verification and motivation of the cause of the serious political crisis and internal commotion invoked by President Lasso. “Neither does any other judicial authority in the country,” the Court said.

The CNE must now make the final announcement on the date of the elections no later than May 24.

In the meantime, Lasso will try “to do in six months what we had planned to do in two years.”