2024-08-14 00:10:24
The clashes between the Assembly and the Government of Daniel Noboa began in mid-May 2024, and escalated rapidly. The fight is deeper between ADN and the PSC, it has become almost personal between Noboa and Henry Kronfle.
The dispute between the Government and the Assembly has been escalating for two months, to the point where accusations and accusations arrive almost every day. Thus, what began as a cordial and coordinated relationship between both functions, ended in constant conflict.
When and why the power struggle began is difficult to pinpoint. Daniel Noboa’s government began with an Assembly in which they formed part of a majority with Correa and the Social Christian Party (PSC). This alliance allowed the government to obtain a majority in the commissions that interested it (Regimen and Economic Development, above all), although it ceded power in other crucial ones such as Oversight. Even so, the first few months were a ‘honeymoon’ relationship, which allowed it to pass its legal proposals without problems.
A personal fight?
Daniel Noboa and Henry Kronfle are not strangers. Their families are close in Guayaquil, so in the previous Assembly (2021-2023) there was already talk of the closeness between the two. This closeness was evident in the meeting that both authorities had as soon as Noboa was sworn in, and they were also together at the inauguration of the Quito Metro.
The President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa, and the President of the National Assembly, Henry Kronfle, visited the Quito Metro, on November 29, 2023. Courtesy of the Municipality of Quito
Kronfle’s sons, Emiliano and Juan Pablo, were even said to have been with Noboa on a trip to Spain by the President in March 2024. This closeness is what led Kronfle to publicly defend Noboa in the case of the Echo Olón project, which ended up being suspended.
“I know the President of the Republic very well, I know his family and I have no doubt that there is something questionable about this. I have no doubt that there is nothing outside the law,” Kronfle said on May 8.
On May 24, when Noboa went to the Assembly to give his account, tensions had already increased. Days before, legislators voted for the integration of the commission that dealt with the legal reforms derived from the popular consultation, and the PSC proposal won, while the ADN proposal was rejected. Since then, the dispute has only deepened. And although Kronfle has tried on several occasions to lower tensions and has called for dialogue, the response from the Government has been more hostile.
According to the Vice Minister of Government, Esteban Torres, the triumph of the ruling party in the referendum is what broke the relationship with the Assembly.
The keys to the dispute The struggle between the Government and the Assembly has had almost two months of episodes, at least weekly.
These are the main ones:
The veto of the reform of the Code of the Judicial Function
President Noboa vetoed a reform to the Organic Code of the Judicial Function that, among other things, proposed that members of the Judicial Council with preventive detention could request leave. The Government rejected the reform. But the Assembly defended what was approved and, on the contrary, assured that the ruling party blocked an initiative that sought to create more judicial units.
Appearances and requests for information
After the Report to the Nation, the Government put on the table the number of requests for appearances that ministers receive, as well as requests for information. The Minister of Environment, Sade Fritschi, even said this in her appearance before the Plenary.
The amendment on vetoes
The Plenary, with the votes of Correísmo, PSC and Construye, approved a constitutional amendment that changed the votes needed to override a partial veto by the Executive. This amendment makes it easier for the Assembly to ratify a text and reject the changes proposed by the President of the Republic in a partial veto, something that directly affects Noboa. Therefore, the Government saw the approval of this amendment as a direct affront. Vice Minister Esteban Torres assured that this modification removes “any possibility of a partial veto by the Executive,” something he described as “aberrant” and “revanchist.”
The case of Veronica Abad
The break between the Government and the Assembly was finally confirmed in mid-June, when the Plenary denied the request for criminal prosecution of Vice President Verónica Abad. Here, the Government was left alone in the initiative that Abad should face the Nene case.
Mental inability
On June 20, 2024, the ruling party ADN raised the alarm and accused the opposition majority of seeking a way to remove President Daniel Noboa. The head of the ADN party, Valentina Centeno, assured that Revolución Ciudadana, the PSC and Construye want to declare the President’s mental incapacity disqualifying him.
This supposed initiative never came to fruition. The legislators accused the government of “paranoia” and ruled out that this was an option that had been considered.
The commission to investigate “irregularities”
On June 20, the majority of the National Assembly approved the creation of an occasional commission to investigate “alleged irregularities in public administration.” The task could reach the government headed by Daniel Noboa. The government took it as an affront and Vice Minister Torres said that the commission would be dedicated to finding ways to affect the government.
The laws of the popular consultation
The government warned that the Assembly was seeking to reduce the penalties that Noboa had proposed in the bills that arose from the referendum on reforms to the Penal Code. The legislature rejected these warnings and in fact approved the legal proposal as the ruling party had proposed.
Political trials
In the midst of this dispute, the PSC and Revolución Ciudadana managed to advance the first two impeachments against Noboa officials: against ministers Gabriela Sommerfeld and Mónica Palencia. To achieve this, they dismissed pending impeachments against former officials of Guillermo Lasso’s government.
The audit of Correa
In this context, the ruling party has tried, on at least three occasions, to pass changes to the agenda of the Plenary of the Assembly to initiate investigations against former President Rafael Correa.
“The Assembly can only supervise public servants who are under political control during their functions and up to a year after. There is no other option. We are not protecting former President Rafael Correa,”
By: PRIMICIAS