Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso said on Friday he will not run in early elections scheduled for August, as he called for parties to unite to defend democracy in the country.
Lasso is governing by decree after invoking a constitutional mechanism earlier this month to dissolve the National Assembly legislature and cut his presidency short, amid an impeachment process against him.
"I want to be clear I will not accept the nomination as a candidate for president for the next elections on Aug. 20," Lasso told journalists and members of his cabinet at the presidential palace. "The work doesn't stop, on the contrary it will re-double. There is no sense in me campaigning when the country needs me dedicated to citizens," he said of his remaining days in office.
Lasso decried what he said was a minority political sector damaging the country and called on all parties which support democracy to unite against authoritarianism.
Lasso, a former banker who took office in 2021, faced consistent pressure from the opposition-controlled legislature, where lawmakers attempted twice to remove him from office.
In the most recent impeachment case Lasso was accused by lawmakers of disregarding warnings of embezzlement related to a contract at state-owned oil transportation company Flopec, charges he always denied.
The president and lawmakers elected in the August vote will be in office until the current term ends in 2025, when originally scheduled elections will be held. If needed, a presidential runoff will be on Oct. 15.
Lasso has defended his decision to call the elections, arguing the impeachment process - the first against an Ecuadorean president in decades - was politically motivated and sparked an anti-democracy crisis.
Opposition figures have said the move to dissolve the legislature and call elections was dictatorial.
Former President Rafael Correa said his party would rebuild the country and tackle law and order issues if successful in the election, where he hopes to get at least 50 seats in the assembly.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; editing by Grant McCool)
