Parliament will evaluate the request for the impeachment of the president of Ecuador

To advance the request against President Guillermo Lasso, 92 of the 137 possible votes in Congress are required.

The Plenary of the National Assembly of Ecuador will analyze on Saturday afternoon the request to remove President Guillermo Lasso presented by a group of opposition legislators, after 13 days of indigenous mobilizations in the South American country.

The president of the Ecuadorian Parliament, Virgilio Saquicela, summoned the legislators starting at 6:00 p.m. local time to analyze the request for the impeachment of President Lasso at the request of at least a third of the members of the National Assembly.

The Union for Hope (Unes) caucus, with 47 signatures, requested on Friday the departure from power of Guillermo Lasso, who took office in May 2021.

The Constitution indicates two grounds for requesting the dismissal of a president: assuming functions that do not correspond to him, and due to a serious political crisis and internal commotion.

Unes's request is based on the cause of dismissal due to serious internal commotion due to the current situation, marked by the protests led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) and supported by numerous sectors of the population, such as students, workers , peasants, women and others.

Once the deliberation is concluded, the deputies will have a maximum of 72 hours to decide on the request for dismissal. If approved, Vice President Alfredo Borrero would take over.

To advance the request against President Lasso, 92 of the 137 possible votes are required in Congress, in which the opposition to the president is a majority.

If President Guillermo Lasso is removed, the National Electoral Council of Ecuador must call for presidential and legislative votes, within a period of seven days.

The parliamentary session will take place a few hours after the complaint made by President Lasso about attempts to overthrow the Government, by the president of Conaie, Leonidas Iza.

Since the beginning of the mobilizations on June 13, there have been at least five deaths and no less than 200 injuries among protesters and security forces, as well as more than 100 arrests, according to human rights organizations.