(Bloomberg) -- President Daniel Noboa wants to avoid relinquishing power to his estranged deputy ahead of Ecuador’s election campaign in the new year.
The 37-year-old leader is under no legal obligation to stand down because he isn’t technically running for reelection, a senior cabinet minister argued after Noboa’s bid to remove Vice President Veronica Abad from office was blocked by a judge.
“Requesting a leave of absence doesn’t apply” to Noboa given that he was only elected last year to serve out his predecessor’s term, Minister of Government Jose de la Gasca told reporters late Monday, citing a 2010 decision by Ecuador’s constitutional court.
Whether to hand over power “is a decision up to the president” when the campaign officially gets underway Jan. 5, added de la Gasca, a career lawyer and close aide to Noboa. The vote is scheduled for Feb. 9, with polls indicating a runoff is likely between Noboa and left-wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez in April.
Abad, whom Noboa ordered to decamp to Turkey as a temporary economic attache by Dec. 27 after the judge’s ruling, said the president would be effectively staging a coup if he didn’t hand over power to her ahead of the deadline.
Noboa’s “gross violation of the constitutional order is the prelude to the installation of a dictatorship,” she said on social media, calling the decision to send her to Ankara “an exile.” Abad had threatened to use her time as Noboa’s stand-in to repeal some of his key economic reforms that helped secure financing from the International Monetary Fund.
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