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News > Ecuador

Ecuador: Quito Metropolitan Council Approves Removal of Mayor

  • Jorge Yunda, Quito, Ecuador, 2021.

    Jorge Yunda, Quito, Ecuador, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @PeriodismoP_Ec

Published 3 June 2021
Opinion

Jorge Yunda has been tainted by a suspicion of embezzlement in the overpriced purchase of 100,000 PCR tests in 2020. This acquisition would have caused a loss of US$4.4 million to the Municipality of Quito.

During an extraordinary meeting that began on Wednesday afternoon, members of Quito's Metropolitan Council approved a request for the removal of Jorge Yunda, the mayor of Ecuador's capital city.

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This request was filed by the “Front of Professionals for the Dignity of Quito”. The Mayor's lawyer argued that such request violates the principles established in the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights since the only way to remove Yunda from office is through a criminal conviction. 

After the interventions of the parties, however, 14 out of 21 metropolitan councilors voted in favor of his removal.

"In politics, there are no friends, there are interests... and I have seen it today," Yunda tweeted a few minutes after the vote.

Previously, Yunda has been tainted by a suspicion of embezzlement in the overpriced purchase of 100,000 PCR tests in 2020. This acquisition would have caused a loss of US$4.4 million to the Municipality of Quito. 

As a result of this embezzlement case, in which a dozen officials are allegedly implicated, a judge ordered in February that Yunda should wear an electronic shackle as an alternative to preventive detention.

Local analysts maintain that Yunda could invalidate the decision of the Metropolitan Council by means of a legal appeal before the Electoral Contentious Tribunal (TCE) or an extraordinary action of protection before the National Court of Justice.

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