Ecuador’s government over the weekend described as an attempt to “destabilize” a parliamentary report recommending the suspension of President Guillermo Lasso over his alleged involvement in a corruption case.

Parliament is investigating the head of state after a news website exposed the existence of an alleged corruption ring in public enterprises, led by Mr Lasso’s brother-in-law Danilo Carrera.

The opposition believes that Mr. Lasso was aware of the existence of the ring and did nothing to stop it.

This is “an obvious attempt to destabilize”, underlined the Minister of the Presidency, Henri Coucalon.

The president himself judged via Twitter that the report, which was approved with 104 votes in favor out of 137 of the body, “lacks logic, evidence and legal basis”.

After the approval of the report, Mr. Lasso asked the prosecutor’s office to “conduct all relevant investigations” in a letter, adding that the text approved by parliament contained “unrelated” accusations of alleged acts of corruption.

Voting on the report does not automatically trigger the suspension of the president. For this, it will be necessary to submit an official request, with the signatures of 46 deputies, in other words of one third of the members of the Ecuadorian national delegation.

The request will then have to be examined by the Constitutional Court, as it needs its own green light to be discussed in plenary. A two-thirds majority (92 votes) is required in order for Parliament to approve the suspension of the head of state from his duties.

In a first attempt to suspend and impeach Mr. Lasso by the parliament, in June 2022, the opposition had failed to secure the necessary number of votes.