Ecuador’s current president, Guillermo Lasso, decided earlier this week not to take the National Assemblies’ latest impeachment attempt lying down. Lasso has been struggling with Ecuador’s legislative party for nearly his entire term. This is the second impeachment attempt he has avoided, this time rather controversially. He invoked “mutual death,” a process that essentially dissolves the legislative body until new members are elected by the citizens of Ecuador.

The result is approximately 90 days during which Lasso has absolute power while the people of Ecuador re-elect the entire legislative body, at which point the newly elected officials will decide whether to impeach the president or not. Mutual death is permitted by the Ecuadorian constitution during times of political crisis to avoid instability and violence between the executive and legislative branches.

In his decree, Lasso justifies his decision with the statement, “la crisis política puede ser interna o externa (the political crisis can be internal or external)” in reference to the Ecuadorian constitution’s justification for a “mutual death” scenario.

Many experts disagree about whether Lasso’s move was constitutional or not, with some agreeing with Lasso’s statement that putting the decision in the hands of the people is the most democratic way of governing. However, others believe that Lasso intends to make the most of his time free of the checks and balances of the legislature to make a lot of unhindered change, citing that he has already used his executive decision-making power to lower income taxes.

Experts are also concerned with another bout of democratic backsliding in Ecuador during a year that has already seen a lot of political conflict in Latin America. Lasso claims he wants to lead Ecuador into an “eternally democratic” future, despite the near-absolute power he will hold for the next three months. Should the opposing party succeed in impeaching him, Lasso will join a long line of Ecuadorian presidents unable to finish their terms. International anxiety is rising for Ecuador’s democracy if the government remains unstable.

The decision of the people remains to be seen, but in either case, this period of political instability in Ecuador is bound to continue.