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The newspaper La Jornada
Monday, August 26, 2024, p. 31

Quito. Ecuador’s Electoral Disputes Tribunal announced that it has accepted a complaint filed by Vice President Verónica Abad against President Daniel Noboa and other officials, whom she accuses of political gender violence.

The above is a violation considered very serious in Ecuadorian legislation and is punishable by fine, dismissal and/or suspension of political participation rights for up to four years.

The court summoned the defendants to a single hearing to present evidence and arguments on September 12, according to the ruling signed on August 23 by Judge Fernando Muñoz and released to the press on Saturday night.

The relationship between Noboa and Abad has been broken since the time of the electoral campaign, although the reasons have not been made known.

Days after taking office, Abad was appointed ambassador to Israel by Noboa and was recently ordered to be transferred to Turkey due to security concerns over the war in that area of ​​the Middle East.

The vice president mentions that fact and others as government measures to pressure her to resign, while Noboa has called her unfair.

Abad filed the complaint on August 8 against the president, the deputy minister of government, Esteban Torres, the foreign minister, Gabriela Sommerfeld, and the presidential adviser Diana Jácome.

After learning of the complaint filed by Abad, ministers and other state officials closed ranks in defense of the ruler and accused the vice president of a attempted coup d’étataccording to a statement issued by the Ministry of Government at the time.

Noboa assumed power in November 2023 to complete the term of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso, who in May last year dissolved the National Assembly and called for early elections, shortening his own mandate.