(Bloomberg) — Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa lost his bid to sideline Vice President Veronica Abad ahead of a deadline to transfer power to his No. 2 as legally required for him to begin his reelection campaign.
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Judge Nubia Vera on Monday tossed out a labor ministry order suspending Abad for 150 days days on the pretext that she’d been late to report to another foreign posting as ordered by Noboa. Abad said she’d reoccupy her office adjacent to Quito’s presidential palace.
While the 2008 constitution gives the president complete leeway in tasking the vice president, Abad was in effect exiled by Noboa’s order reassigning her. It represents yet another twist in a feud dating to 2023 when they were elected for an 18-month interim term by popular vote.
Speaking after the ruling, Vera said the president of the judicial administration, Mario Godoy, and other officials had threatened to fire her and handed her a flashdrive with a ruling against Abad.
After the ruling, Noboa reinstated Abad but sent her as a temporary economic attache to Turkey, ordering her to arrive in Ankara no later than Dec. 27, according to a presidential decree.
During a radio interview earlier Monday, Noboa said that he had made a mistake picking Abad as his running mate and that she should have resigned when it became clear that she opposed many of his policies.
Abad has said that as acting president she’d consider attempting to repeal some of Noboa’s key decisions including an increase in the value-added tax that helped to secure fresh support from the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral banks providing crucial lending to the South American nation.
Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled to go ahead Feb. 9, with a runoff for the executive in April if no candidate wins outright in the first round. According to polls, Noboa and leftwing candidate Luisa Gonzalez are likely to repeat as runoff candidates.
(Updates to add Noboa ordering Abad to serve as Ecuador’s envoy to Turkey in fifth paragraph)
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Publish date : 2024-12-23 08:21:00
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