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The Constitutional Court, the highest legal control body of Ecuador, declared the executive decree unconstitutional issued on December 21 by President Lenín Moreno, in which he declared a state of emergency of thirty days.
Although the body issued its resolution on December 27, this Saturday night the text was released, in which it ensures that the executive decree does not comply with the legal regulations in force in the country.
The document on the “state of exception due to public calamity” due to the increase in the contagion of Covid-19 due to Christmas crowds and the possible circulation of the variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in the United Kingdom, “did not conform to constitutional norms “, the Court concluded in its ruling.
He considered that states of exception they are applied when the situation that causes them cannot be resolved in an ordinary way and, therefore, measures of indefinite duration are required.
For that reason, the Court noted that “a regime designed to be temporary and exceptional cannot be sustained for the duration of the pandemic and its consequences”.
“INSPECTIVE” BASIS
In addition, he considered that President Moreno based his decision on “a possible future risk and not current, not based on sufficient, clear and specific information “.
The Constitutional Court reiterated that it is “aware of the seriousness of the pandemic and its enormous impact on the rights to life, health, among others,” but stressed that in the president’s decree “unpredictable and untimely” events are not justified.
For the Court, “after more than nine months of pandemic in Ecuador and in the world, such situation ceased to be unforeseen or supervening”, so the executive declaration does not establish the cause of the “invoked public calamity.”
🔴BULLETIN | This Organism, once it has analyzed Executive Decree No. 1217, decides to declare it unconstitutional for not conforming to constitutional norms.
Read more➡️https: //t.co/UFEv5O3WAw pic.twitter.com/sC7tPNJ51X– Constitutional Court (@CorteConstEcu) January 3, 2021
In addition, he recalled that the Court had previously warned that “it will not admit a new declaration on the same facts that have established public calamity on two previous occasions with their respective renewals “.
This is because President Moreno declared on March 16 a state of exception that he extended until September, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court had recommended that he put an end to such measure, and assume the ordinary legality to face the coronavirus pandemic.
UNCERTAIN EFFECT OF THE FAILURE
After declaring the unconstitutionality of the new state of exception, the Court noted that the measures aimed at “avoiding crowds and mass meetings as well as preventing the possible risks of the new variant of Covid-19 identified in the United Kingdom can be adopted based on the powers of the ordinary constitutional regime “.
Given this, he urged the government to “reinforce, in a coordinated manner, the prevention mechanisms available under the ordinary regime”.
The Court, finally, clarified that the constitutional judge Hernán Salgado saved his vote, considering that the invoked cause of public calamity is not repetitive, since the pandemic “has presented features that go beyond daily reality.”
The announcement of the Constitutional Court generated surprise in the media and social networks, since it occurred after The executive decree of the state of exception will be applied on the Christmas and New Year holidays.
In addition, the Emergency Operations Committee (COE), in charge of the health emergency, has applied restriction measures that seek to stop the advance of the pandemic, and which the Constitutional Court does not question.
For now the Executive has not ruled on the ruling of the Constitutional Court and the effects it will have is unknown against the actions applied by the authorities based on the exceptional measure of the government.
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