What is cross death, the decree of Guillermo Lasso that dissolves Congress and calls for new elections in Ecuador

Police outside the National Assembly in Quito after the dissolution of parliament in Ecuador.CRISTINA VEGA (REUTERS)

In the midst of the political trial against him for an alleged crime of embezzlement, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, decreed the dissolution of the National Assembly and with it, the end of his management at the head of the executive. Cross-death, as this legal figure is popularly known, is a mechanism that allows the executive and legislative to dissolve each other in advance to call elections. The decree of dissolution of Lasso is based on a "serious political crisis and internal commotion", one of the three causes that, according to the current Constitution, allows to invoke the cross death and the only one that does not require the opinion of the Constitutional Court.

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Cross-death first appeared in Ecuador with the promulgation of the 2008 Constitution, during the administration of former President Rafael Correa. Its two aspects, the dissolution of Congress by the president, contained in Article 148, and the dismissal of the president by Congress, based on Article 130, may only be executed once during the period (executive or legislative) and during the first three years thereof. In the case of Lasso, the first president to apply this legal mechanism, the cross-death decree happens one week before completing two years in office, which he has held since May 2021 and whose four-year term officially ends in 2025.

What's next after the death of the cross in Ecuador?

Following the decree of dissolution, the Constitution requires legislative and presidential elections to be called within a maximum period of seven days. The document signed by the president notified the National Electoral Council (CNE) of its obligation to call the next elections, which must be held on the same date and will decide the occupants of the positions for the rest of their respective periods. Both Lasso and the assembly members may stand for the extraordinary elections, whose first round will take place within a maximum period of ninety days after the call.

Once the National Assembly is dissolved and until the election of the new Congress, Lasso will maintain his position by decree for a maximum of six months, with the endorsement of the Constitution to issue urgent decrees and laws of an economic nature, which may be approved or repealed by the newly created legislative body.

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