The double game of UNES in the tax reform of Guillermo Lasso

Correísmo, represented in the National Assembly by the Union for Hope (UNES) bench, handed over to the government of Guillermo Lasso what its legislative allies the Democratic Left (ID) and Pachakutik (PK) wanted to archive: the tax reform that will allow it have an economic breather in the next two years and raise $ 1.9 billion.

In plenary session No. 743, a political pact was prepared between Correísmo and the government, the result and political cost of which will be seen in the coming weeks, and is related to judicial issues and the Government’s interest in facing the economic crisis with the application of new taxes. That is the generalized reading that exists among legislators.

At 7:25 p.m. on November 26, in response to the motion of the Pachakutik sector to deny and archive the draft Law on Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability, raised by the Executive through urgent means, the electronic system of the legislature registered 81 abstentions and these belonged to the UNES bench and the government sector with its allies.

Assembly did not approve, deny or archive the tax reform bill

In three votes, the National Assembly did not approve, deny or archive the urgent bill, and this Sunday, November 28, the general secretary of Parliament will notify the Executive about the results of the motions that were presented against its bill, to proceed as established by the Constitution, that is, submit to the Official Registry the publication of the full text of its initial proposal.

The assembly members who represent Correísmo are silent, they do not answer their phones. The CREO sector also preferred not to speak to the press since Friday night.

Political negotiations

The UNES bench against the results obtained from the motion on file: 51 in favor, 3 against and 81 abstentions, for the first time, remained silent. When he left the legislature, he did not sing the anthem of protest that identifies them every time they disagree with the results of a vote.

With a few short statements by Assemblyman Carlos Zambrano, which lasted two minutes, the correista legislators hurriedly left the Parliament building.

Zambrano clarified that the Executive’s proposal was denied, that it was a tax collection law and that unfortunately neither his minority report proposal had the votes, that they acted responsibly. His voice rose in tone to point out to the press: “We have not lent ourselves, as they are saying, we have not lent for the Government and if we had lent, we would not have presented a minority report, we did not lend ourselves for that type of stuff”.

Early on, the leaders of UNES held separate meetings with the Social Christian party, in which they agreed that the destiny of the Executive’s project was to deny it in plenary session, thus conforming to the Social Christian thesis zero taxes. Pachakutik and even the Democratic Left would join that thesis.

Before the plenary session, the PSC, through the bench coordinator, Esteban Torres, sent a message to the president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori. “If the direction of the session lends itself so that the project passes through the Ministry of Law, from now on we announce consequences within the Assembly, it may be the dismissal of the authorities, we are not going to allow there to be a game that is suspend the sessions ”.

After the results obtained, the party on list 6 blamed the Government and UNES, who voted coincidentally for the validity of the Ministry of the Law, what they call “tax package.” That now it should be clear who the pact is between, and that it is obviously not with the PSC.

Torres assured that there was a Government-UNES pact. “We all knew that an abstention in the face of a motion to file the law meant the ministry of law, and without a doubt the position of UNES was surprising.” He revealed that they held meetings with that political sector, but “it was never known that this was behind, it was a specific agreement between the Government and the correistas, which was not revealed to anyone, that is why Pachakutik and the Democratic Left are upset.”

UNES also held meetings with Pachakutik to obtain the endorsement of the motion presented before the plenary session called for 4:30 p.m., to deny and archive the project. But, according to Mireya Pazmiño (PK), there is no doubt that there was an agreement between the Government and UNES, since the correísmo in his speech always maintained that the law should not pass and that it is not progressive, but harmful to the poor and the class. half. “We were supposed to file and have the Government send a new one, but the final results were surprising.”

Pazmiño, who promoted the motion to archive, said that he spoke with all the banks, including UNES through its coordinator, Paola Cabezas, who even pointed out that it was the option in case there were no votes for the minority report of the project urgent presented by Correísmo.

It was a surprise, he added, because the UNES assembly members stood still, did not press the voting button and when there is no vote, the electronic system automatically counts as abstention.

The only ones who pressed the abstention button were legislators Esther Cuesta and María Gabriela Molina.

In moments of tension, because UNES was late to record the vote, it was clear that they were on the phone, Pazmiño described. “It seemed that they were investigating former President Rafael Correa, you could see them there talking on the phone, we did not come to ask because that has already been discussed; because if there were no votes for the majority and minority report, then it had to be archived, otherwise it would come into force by the Ministry of Law, and now that is what they allowed ”.

Before and during the session, UNES maintained that they were going to give the votes for the archive, Pazmiño insisted, who also plans to take action against the project that he considers harmful because it raises the income tax of the people by almost 2,000%.

The coordinator of the Democratic Left bloc, Alejandro Jaramillo, pointed out that the turnaround that the Government had with Correísmo was surprising, because initially with Pachakutik they spoke to archive the Executive’s project due to the economic blow that it would cause to the middle class. “We never imagined that the pact of pardon would be given.”

Correísmo is interested in the government pardoning some of its politicians who are detained and it is even probable that this pact is related to the pre-release of the former vice president of the Republic Jorge Glas. In the next few days we will see what exactly this agreement between UNES and the Government has been, he said.

Jaramillo considered that the agreement between the Government and the Correísmo was before the start of the plenary session, because the legislator Francisco Jiménez (CREO) and rapporteur of the urgent project had the opportunity to include the observations of the ID and PK, but did not he did, and it was also evident the tranquility that the Government had and the happiness that some government officials showed.

At the moment, the ID analyzes two exits in front of the project. Present, at the next plenary session, a reconsideration of the actions taken on November 26, enlist a claim of unconstitutionality or request the repeal of this “legal monstrosity on tax issues.”

Prior to the session, government legislator Francisco Jiménez denied that the government is trying to pass the bill through the law department, which is a conundrum.

After the results of the motion to deny and archive the urgent tax reform project, the President of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, closed the session stating that “it has been known and voted on the majority report, on the approval of the report of minority and even on the filing of the bill, and after none of these has reached the necessary vote to be approved, I proceed to close this session “. It was 7:36 p.m. on November 26. (I)