The ruling party ADN assures that the legislative majority made up of Revolución Ciudadana, PSC and Construye is looking for a way to declare the mental incapacity of President Daniel Noboa.
The ruling party ADN raised alerts in the Assembly, after accusing the opposition majority of looking for a way to remove President Daniel Noboa. The head of the ADN bench, Valentina Centeno, assured that Revolución Ciudadana, the PSC and Construye want to declare the mental inability of the President.
Centeno assured that “the old politics and trunk of the Assembly” wants to take the debate back to a supposed Noboa’s mental inability. “They want to declare him crazy in the Plenary, they want to repeat the practices of the old Congress,” he said.
According to article 145 of the Constitution, the President will cease his duties and vacate the office in six cases. One of them, this article says, is because permanent physical or mental disability that prevents him from exercising his position, certified in accordance with the law by a committee of specialized doctors, and declared by the National Assembly with the votes of two thirds of its members (92 votes).
This cause was used in February 1997, with a previous Constitution, to remove the then president Abdalá Bucaram. Since then, the requirements for the use of this cause have been changing.
The process to declare mental incapacity
The Organic Law of the Legislative Function establishes the process for the declaration of permanent disabling physical or mental disability of the president. The entire process takes about 38 days.
This process begins with a petition, which must be presented by the absolute majority of the members of the Assembly, that is, 92 assembly members.
Once said request is received, the president of the Assembly has a maximum period of three days to send it to the Legislative Administration Council (CAL), so that it can be qualified within a maximum period of 10 days.
If the request is qualified, the CAL must request from the IESS, the Ministry of Health and the Association of Faculties of Medical and Health Sciences of Ecuador, shortlists of professionals to make up the committee of specialized doctors.
Those who have been candidates to assembly members or part of presidential binomials in the last two elections, that is adherents or affiliates to a political party or movement.
Then, the Plenary Session must meet to appoint three doctors who will make up the committee that will evaluate the President. They will be appointed with an absolute majority vote (71 votes) in the Plenary.
He committee of specialized doctors He will then have 10 days to submit a detailed report of the President’s ongoing physical and mental health.
The report presented by the committee must then go to the Plenary Assembly. The President may request to be heard before the vote.
The legislators, in a single debate and with the favorable vote of the qualified majority (92 votes) of their members, may declare the permanent and disqualifying physical or mental incapacity of the President of the Republic and, therefore, the cessation of his functions.
Then, He will be replaced by whoever exercises the Vice Presidency for the time remaining to complete the corresponding presidential term.
