Die is cast. President Guillermo Lasso crossed the Rubicon and played the most powerful card given to him by the Constitution: Article 148, the so-called death on the cross. The Assembly, one of the most discredited in our republican history, is going home and in six months we Ecuadorians will return to the polls to decide the future of our country.

The President’s decision carried a huge risk, but perhaps the only way out of a completely insurmountable political situation. Practically since the beginning of their mandates, the executive and legislative branches, far from working together to answer the very serious problems plaguing our country, have been mired in petty disputes over power. We faced a completely paralyzed, divided and dysfunctional state, all at the same time as we were facing the worst security crisis in our history. Even if the president won this impeachment trial, we would only be back to a stagnant situation where, as now-former MP Mireya Pazmiño freely admitted, the Assembly would simply continue to find other creative ways to oust the president, even if it means declaring him mentally incompetent.

During his tenure, Guillermo Lasso blamed the Assembly for all of his government’s problems. There was no shortage of reasons. What would happen if only a third of the time and energy that the Assembly devoted to repeated coup attempts was directed at solving problems such as insecurity, malnutrition or domestic violence? What would happen if, instead of constantly having to defend against impeachment attempts, the president fully committed to implementing the political plan that Ecuadorians voted for on April 11, 2021? It is futile to speculate about a past that never was, but in the next six months the president will have the opportunity to prove to the country that he was telling the truth and that indeed the problems plaguing his mandate are not his fault. No more excuses.

During his tenure, Guillermo Lasso blamed the Assembly for all of his government’s problems.

Guillermo Lasso has already hinted at his intention to be re-elected. If he does, he will be in a unique position: being a candidate and president at the same time without a legislature to counterbalance him. His campaign will then not be a campaign of promises, but of results. If, with the vast powers the president will have in the coming months, he can make tangible improvements to the serious problems affecting ordinary citizens, especially the security crisis, then perhaps he can again pull off the same miracle he pulled off in his second term as president and move within less than 20% support for re-election victory.

But if he fails, the consequences will be catastrophic, because his candidacy will simply divide the votes of the majority of Ecuadorians who, despite their dissatisfaction with the current governance of the country, do not want a return to the authoritarianism of the lost. a decade. Will the president achieve his goal?

Alea iacta est (or in Spanish: ‘the die is cast’). (OR)