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Santamaría Velasco, Juan Pablo
Ecuador and Peru without presidents. Are their presidential removal processes constitutionally legal?
2024
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Santamaría Velasco, Juan Pablo
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Medina Medina, Vanessa Estefanía
This paper conducts an analysis of presidential impeachment processes in Ecuador and Peru, examining their influence on democracy. The main objective of this research is to analyze how the democracies of Peru and Ecuador are affected by the impeachment processes of their presidents. In the scope of this study, the Constitutions and political systems of Ecuador and Peru were considered as fundamental foundations. The methodology used was quantitative and qualitative, employing a comparative analysis of the legislations and procedures for presidential impeachment. Additionally, the latest study by the Latinbarometer Corporation regarding democracies in Latin America was used as a basis, along with a focus on emblematic cases such as Guillermo Lasso and Pedro Castillo. The results reveal that, while both nations share the goal of strengthening citizen participation, they exhibit significant divergences in the details of their presidential impeachment processes. In Ecuador, a more stringent structure is evident, requiring high thresholds of respect for certain basic due process guarantees, while in Peru, the thresholds are more flexible, subject to the discretion of the Congress. However, in both cases, questions have arisen regarding their effectiveness and impact on the democratic perception of the nations. The conclusions establish that democracy as a form of government requires profound changes to prevent its decline and to avoid the emergence of authoritarianism as a solution to the political crises in Latin America.