Ecuador: Noboa Appoints Sariha Moya as Temporary Vice President
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November 11, 2024 Hour: 12:47 pm
Previously, the Labor Ministry issued a 150-day suspension against Vice President Veronica Abad.
On Monday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa appointed Sariha Moya, who has been serving as the Planning Secretary, as “acting vice president”, after his administration suspended Vice President Veronica Abad, for 150 days.
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On Saturday, the Labor Ministry suspended Abad, alleging that she failed to report on the indicated date to the Ecuadorian embassy in Ankara, where Noboa relocated her from Tel Aviv for security reasons.
A few hours before Moya’s designation as vice president, Abad made statements from Turkey, calling the administrative investigation initiated by the Labor Ministry a “gross violation of the Ecuadorian constitution and laws,” claiming it was meant to suspend her for five months.
In a video shared on social media, Abad accused Noboa of preparing a “coup d’état,” arguing that she should assume the presidency in 2025, as the Constitution requires if the sitting president, Daniel Noboa, takes a leave to campaign for re-election for a four-year term.
“Without any evidence, they intend to disqualify me for five months for an offense I didn’t commit. Their only objective is to prevent me from assuming the presidency when the incumbent president enters his campaign, which he has openly engaged in since the start of his administration,” Abad said.
Currently, Noboa is one of 15 candidates for the presidency. During the campaign period, he would need to take a leave and temporarily delegate the position to Abad, with whom he has maintained a bitter conflict even before his term began.
“Using arguments typical of a dictatorship, President Noboa and his ministers have systematically prepared a breakdown of constitutional order and an evident coup d’état, set for January 6, 2025, to seize the presidential succession and thus attempt to secure re-election,” Abad explained.
This politician stated that the Noboa administration has made “countless attempts” to pressure her to resign, emphasizing that the suspension of her role as vice president “is a clear reflection of a government that has chosen the path of repression and fear instead of transparency and respect for the popular will.”
“We cannot tolerate practices such as the use of institutions for personal ends and the breakdown of the constitutional order,” Abad asserted, urging oversight authorities, social and political forces, leaders, and professionals “to overcome the fear that this government of terror has tried to instill.”
Abad called on the National Assembly to investigate the Presidency and the Ministries of Labor and Foreign Affairs for the actions against her. She also indicated that she would report the events to the international community.
The Labor Ministry’s decision came three days after the Electoral Contentious Tribunal fined Abad US$8,500. However, the latter institution did not suspend her political rights, as was requested in a complaint alleging she had campaigned prematurely in the 2023 elections, when she was a candidate for mayor of Cuenca.
Additionally, the Electoral Contentious Tribunal still has pending cases to resolve involving mutual allegations of gender-based violence filed by Abad and Noboa, which could lead to potential disqualification and removal of the authorities involved.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
