Ecuador's vice president, Veronica Abad, was suspended Saturday for 150 days accused of "unjustified abandonment" of her duties. Abad's suspension without pay came at midnight, her lawyer Dominique Dávila told the AP. Dávila called the move "extremely serious" and claimed it may not have any legal backing. Abad was accused by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of not following an order in September to temporarily transfer her from Israel—where she also serves as ambassador—to Turkey due to the conflict, arriving eight days after the order.
Abad had argued that she was not "properly prepared" for the trip to Turkey and that Ecuador's government suggested "that I leave my children in Israel to go to Turkey alone." Although Abad and Noboa run the government together, they have clashed for years in a feud whose origin is not publicly known. In August, Abad filed a legal complaint accusing Noboa and other officials of gender-based violence. The suspension was the second sanction against Abad this week. Abad was fined $8,500 on Tuesday by Ecuador's Electoral Disputes Tribunal for early election campaigning in 2023 when she was a candidate for mayor of Cuenca.
The vice president has previously cited the Israel case and others as measures to pressure her to resign, while the president has labeled her disloyal. Dávila, Abad's lawyer, called the suspension a "trick to prevent the presidential succession" and said it will be appealed. Abad's fate has special importance for Noboa, who hopes to run for reelection in February and will have to request a leave of absence to campaign, according to experts. In that case, Abad would take over the presidency. But with the recent sanctions, her path to taking the reigns would be blocked, according to a constitutional lawyer. The expert said that while the suspension lacks strong legal backing, any appeals process to reverse the 150-day suspension would take longer than the suspension will last.
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