2024-07-07 19:50:14
The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on President Daniel Noboa’s query, who was seeking a way to avoid entrusting power to Vice President Verónica Abad during the electoral campaign. The CNE will now have to decide what happens if the president does not request leave.
The Attorney General’s response to the President’s query about Daniel Noboa’s electoral campaign did not go down well in Carondelet.
The ruling party hoped that the entity would agree with them and pave the way for Noboa to be a presidential candidate, who would not have to cede power, even for a few days, to his vice president, Verónica Abad.
The Presidency sought to use a 2010 Constitutional Court ruling to argue that the president did not need to request leave to campaign in 2025. This ruling establishes that a presidential term like the one Noboa is serving after the death of Cruz is not counted as a reelection.
On that basis, the Presidency asked the Attorney General’s Office to respond to whether said sentence would apply so that Noboa does not have to transfer power.
But the Attorney General’s Office ‘washed its hands’. Since this was a question about a ruling by the Constitutional Court, it responded that such an interpretation was not within its functions.
Faced with this, there are two scenarios:
Send a query to the Constitutional Court, something that could be done by the Presidency itself or the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Let the CNE decide when the President decides to register his candidacy for the 2025 elections.
A consultation with the Constitutional Court?
With the response from the Attorney General’s Office, the first option left is to consult the Constitutional Court. This is the only institution that can make an interpretation of its own ruling.
This, however, poses several challenges for the Executive. Firstly, the ruling speaks specifically about the calculation of the periods for re-election.
The document does not mention the license and the electoral campaign anywhere, so a response from the Court could leave the question still in limbo and avoid making a decision on the matter. A second problem is that the Constitutional Court usually takes its time.
Although he has decided to prioritize some current issues in very specific cases, as was the case of the former mayor of Quito, Jorge Yunda.
A third problem is that the Constitutional Court is an institution that has acted cautiously in the face of the Executive’s claims, highlighting an independent attitude. In fact, this institution has already “overturned” two states of emergency issued by Noboa.
This option, therefore, generates a lot of uncertainty for the Presidency, so it could be ruled out.
Leave Noboa in the hands of the CNE
The second option, which is the most viable, is that everything be left in the hands of the CNE, so that this body can decide as things happen. The Attorney General’s Office in fact consulted the CNE before issuing its statement, but the Legal Department also avoided making a statement.
The CNE will therefore have to decide on the spot which regulations it will apply. According to the Code of Democracy, Noboa has two options: resign or take a leave of absence. In both cases, power would be temporarily in the hands of Verónica Abad. The Code of Democracy specifies that public servants who wish to be candidates in an election have two options:
Public servants who are freely appointed and removed, and those with a fixed term, must resign before the date of registration of their candidacy. This applies even to elected authorities who opt for a position other than the one they occupy (such as assembly members who run for mayor, for example).
Other public servants may stand for election and will enjoy unpaid leave from the date of registration of their candidacies until the day after the elections. Along these lines, the Code of Democracy determines that dignitaries who opt for immediate re-election to the same position must take unpaid leave from the beginning of the electoral campaign.
According to the electoral calendar, the registration of candidates will take place between September 13 and October 2, 2024. Here, there must be a first analysis by the CNE, because when it reviews that each registration meets the requirements, it must decide whether Noboa should have resigned or requested leave by that date.
A second review by the CNE should take place when the electoral campaign begins. If Noboa chooses to campaign without having taken leave, he would be guilty of an electoral violation that the CNE should send to the Electoral Dispute Tribunal.
It is a very serious electoral offence when “public servants use or authorise the use of public assets or resources for electoral purposes and incur in the prohibitions established in this Law in relation to the holding of events with international artists and unauthorised advertising or information”. This offence is punishable by the suspension of participation rights for up to four years.
No campaign?
If Noboa succeeds in having the CNE register his candidacy, another option he has to avoid giving the job to Abad is not to campaign. In that case, figures from his party or even his wife, Lavinia Valbonesi, could take on this task.
This option would avoid a new confrontation with the Assembly, which must approve his leave in plenary session, and would also allow him to maintain the discourse that the country needs him to work. During his time as President, however, he will be limited because he would not be able to participate in inaugurations of works or issue propaganda that makes reference to his image.
By: PRIMICIAS