A few days have passed since President Guillermo Lasso ordered the so-called death by crucifixion. It seems prudent to use this space to invite you to consider the figure itself, leaving aside for a moment our political affiliations.

Article 148 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador authorizes the President to dissolve the National Assembly by decree, after fulfilling one or more conditions for this. With the Assembly dissolved, the President can issue decrees on urgent economic issues that require a positive opinion of the Constitutional Court. In the meantime, the electoral service will announce the presidential and parliamentary elections. In short, it is death on the cross.

In the international community, in unquestionably democratic countries like Chile, the existence of that figure is unthinkable. How can the head of the executive power dissolve the most relevant body of the legislative power in a democratic republic? It was a question that filled the world with suspicion, even leading some to conflate Lasso’s actions with those of Peru’s former president, Pedro Castillo.

The root of this strange figure lies in the design of the political system of the Montecristi Constitution, which concentrates the power of the state in the executive branch. Because of this, any president in Ecuador will be able to co-opt the country, do whatever he wants, reset the country when he fails to have control. The constitution was created for authoritarianism or chaos, which is not surprising, because the messiah who forged it knows only that logic.

Venezuela and Ecuador are the only countries in the West that have government structures with five powers…

Venezuela and Ecuador are the only countries in the West that have government structures with five powers instead of three. The similarity in the design of the political system of both nations makes them easy targets for what I mentioned earlier.

His followers will defend the crucifixion invoked by President Lasso, and blamed by his detractors; but, at the end of it all, it will be there, at the disposal of the next president. And it will continue to be another example of how anti-republican and anti-democratic the Montecristi constitution is. This earthquake is a good moment to not only focus on the Government’s decision, but to start having a perspective of our country. This could be an opportunity to question the original problem: a political system constitutionally born of and for authoritarianism. This is definitely not an absolute solution to the country’s governance problems, but it would be a great first step.

As long as the Constitution of Montecristi is the Constitution of Ecuador, our democracy will continue to be infected by totalitarian leaders or fall victim to permanent indolence. I want to invite those who recognize the value of democracy and the importance of republican values ​​to think about what will happen to our country if we continue under the same constitutional umbrella that encompasses a political system that has heralded the death of governance. (OR)