 Ecuador heads for early presidential elections this year after Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature late last month. What is the mood on the ground in Ecuador? The Australian government is planning to pass legislation to block the construction of a new Russian embassy in Canberra, citing security concerns. Is there more to this than diplomatic muscle flexing? And what has led to sectarian tensions in India's state of Uttarakhand? Welcome to I am your host Shreya and these are the stories for the day. After an extraordinary series of events last month involving the dissolution of Ecuador's legislature by its incumbent President Guillermo Lasso, eight presidential candidates have entered the race for the early elections scheduled to be held in August. The winning candidate will hold the position till the end of 2025 for the remaining period of what would have been Lasso's term as president. On May 17, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso decreed the dissolution of the country's parliament using a never-before-tested constitutional clause known as cross-death, plunging the country into an unprecedented political crisis. Martin from People's Dispatch joins us now for more. Welcome to the show, Martin. Thanks for joining us today. So first off, who are these presidential candidates? There are eight of them. Can you take us through each of them or give us a general overview of what it looks like right now? Yes, thank you for having me. It's been a very unusual time in Ecuador. It's an unusual election in the middle of the term. We have eight candidates. It went from supposedly should have been 16 candidates, it went to eight. And the candidates are basically going to run for a term of a year and a half until the end of what should have been Lasso's term. The eight candidates are very different from very different parties and the spectrum of the politics in Ecuador. The first one is Javier Ervas, who is a center-right-wing person, a liberal basically. He ran for presidency in 2021 and he got a pretty good amount of numbers of votes. But he had just said that he wouldn't run and on the next day he presented his candidacy. Then we have Yacu Pérez, who is an indigenous person, but linked to the right-wing NGOs and USAID, for example, they have very tight ties between him and these organizations that usually come to Latin America for some sort of destabilization. He also has the support of some part of the indigenous movement in Ecuador, which is also a very broad movement that goes from very left-wing people like Leonida to very right-wing people as other indigenous leaders in the country. Then we also have Jan Topik, who is, from my point of view, one of the most dangerous candidates. He has a very high possibility of winning and he would be some sort of Bolsonaro or Bukele in Ecuador. He's a mercenary. This is not a way of saying thing. He's literally a mercenary. He fought in several wars. He's pro-guns, pro-repression, a very right-wing person and with ties to these kind of movements that are very repressive, very, I would even say Trump-like candidacy, which is very worrisome. Then we have Luisa Gonzales, who is the candidate for the Citizens' Revolution. She will go with Andrés Arauz for Vice President. Andrés Arauz was the one who went for the presidency in 2021. The first election that the Citizens' Revolution lost, I have to say. They are pretty good candidates. There is a lot of sound around them too because Luisa Gonzales, people didn't think she would go for the candidacy. We thought that Andrés Arauz would be the candidate, but it is the Citizens' Revolution, the process that lasted 10 years in Ecuador and modernized the country and had a very progressive agenda. And I got to say, this is the candidacy that I think the other seven candidacies are going to try to beat. It's going to be that. I think they're hoping to go to a second round in the elections and then they will all unite against this candidacy. Then we have Otto Sonnenhoesner. That's a very rough last name to say. He was the Vice President to Lenin Moreno after they took out Jorge Glass, and he's a right-wing person, businessman, and hoping to keep implementing the right-wing neoliberal policies that have been going in Ecuador for the last six years. I think also he has a pretty good chance to be the one that would go to the second round. And then we have Fernando Villavicencio. He is indescribable. He's a right-wing person that has been attacking the Citizens' Revolution very close to the U.S. Embassy and to U.S. aid and a very typical person of that sort, I would say. And then we have Bolivar Armijos, who is also a candidate. He says he's from the Citizens' Revolution, but it is not. And I think it's one of the candidates that will try to take votes from the Luisa Andrés candidacy. And then we have Daniel Novoa, who is the son of Novoa, who is the biggest and richest person in Ecuador. His father went for the presidency several times and lost all of them, and now he will go and it's a pretty right-wing businessman person. Martin, thanks for that. But another question would be, what makes these elections significant? We know there's been a political crisis triggered by the dissolution of the parliament. But before that, Lasso is not a very preferred candidate because of all the corruption scandals and because of the embezzlement or funds. In general, why are these elections significant? So, yes, Lasso is leaving the presidency at the middle of his term. Now these elections will pick both an assembly, a legislative power and the executive power for the rest of the term. And we will have, once again, elections in 2025, if I'm correct. These elections are very very unusual in a sense. Ecuador, before the citizen revolution, we had 10 presidents in eight years before the citizen revolution. Then we had the term of Rafael Correa, two terms, two and a half terms, that were a very stable moment in the history of Ecuador. And now, once again, we have this turmoil. The term muerte cruzada, which is what Lasso applied, it wasn't just the dissolution of the parliament. It was, yes, but it was anticipated elections. The legal term of it is anticipated elections. So, Lasso left his position or renounced to his position and dissolved the parliament, the assembly, the national assembly. So, this makes, it's a constitutional mechanism put into the Monte Cristi constitution that is a very advanced constitution in Latin America, a very good one. And this term was used and put so we don't have this in constitutional stops of presidential terms. So, it's the first time it's been used and it's kind of useful because it comes at a moment where the Lasso government has a very low credibility, a very low support. The party of Lasso Creo will not go to the elections. He will not run him or anybody from his party, neither for the presidency nor for the assembly. So, it comes in a moment where Ecuador is in a multifacetic or very crisis, very much of a crisis. We have an economic crisis, prices are going up very highly, very rapidly, even though we have the US dollar as national money, national currency. So, we shouldn't have this amount of high prices, hikes. The country has a violence crisis all over the country, especially in the provinces of Esmeraldas and Guayas. For example, the prison crisis where there have been massacres in the prisons, loads of them in the past years and so on. So, it comes in a moment where Lasso has this crisis implemented mainly because of the neoliberal policies implemented by Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso and the countries in a total crisis. The National Assembly was making a political trial for the impeachment of Lasso and then he uses the Muerte Cruzada, the cross-dead power that he had. And so, now we have, from the moment he signed that decree, we had six months to have a new president and a new National Assembly. So, this is why it's a very unusual election that will last the term of the president and the new National Assembly, will last only a year and a half, basically, until we have the next presidential and National Assembly elections. That was programmed for 2025, if I'm correct. All right. Thank you so much for joining us today for that important update, Martin. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. The Australian government has fast-tracked legislation to block the construction of a new Russian embassy in the national capital Canberra. The move, which reportedly comes after security concerns will cancel Russia's lease for the new embassy site, which is set to be located near Australia's Parliament House. The decision, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said was based on national security interests, comes in the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. And to talk more about this, we are now joined by Anish. Hi, Anish. Thank you for joining us. So what has happened is this blocking of the construction of the new Russian embassy, but how do we decode something like this? Because national security and national interests have been called into question in fast-tracking this legislation. So how do we understand this, first of all? Yeah, so let's begin with the fact that the so-called legislation or the attempt to block has not yet happened. So they are planning a legislation. Now, what shape it will take is going to be very interesting to see, because I don't know how they're going to, like the kind of language that they're going to use, whether they do not want any embassies near the Parliament House. The whole thing was that this new embassy site is very close to the Parliament House. So if they do not want any embassies whatsoever near the Parliament House, or they're just going to create a specific legislation just to block the Russians is something that we need to wait and see. On the other hand, we need to remember that, like, there was a litigation that was happening and the Russian ambassador or the Russian embassy actually won the case over the lease last month, where the federal court actually decided that there was nothing wrong in leasing. There was nothing illegal in leasing this land and the Russians had every right to do what they deemed there, including construction and new embassies. So this land was actually given out in 2008, 2009, and there has been plans for creating a new embassy since 2011. But the fact that it was low-paced was one of the reasons that they used earlier to get the lease cancelled to block a new embassy site. But now they're using national security just like barely a month after. This whole thing came up very new, very recently, and national security concerns were not a part of the decision when they actually leased out the land or even when they tried to cancel the lease. So this whole thing shows that this was an entirely ad hoc, very political reaction from the Australian government. And it is very difficult to understand why the immediate, what was the immediate trigger for this, but definitely the fact that legally they can't do anything. So they have to create a new law just to block this one, shows that this is a very reactive effort by the Australian government. Right, Anish. And the backdrop within which all of this is happening is very obvious to all the audience, the war in Ukraine. Can you tell us something also about Australia's efforts to pump in more military aid in Ukraine? Yeah, so it is something that we need to always remember how Australia keeps falling within the ambit of US foreign policy. It's pretty much the Australian foreign policy more or less has always been an extension to US foreign policy in the region, in the Asia-Pacific region, even at the cost of its own national interest many a time. Like we saw that recently with their whole trade sanctions that they tried to do with China, and they actually suffered in terms of trade and economy because China was their biggest trading partner and there was no export market that they could actually find that could replace China at that moment, even today. So they're doing something very similar to Russia. At this point, we have seen the Australian government along with a couple of other pro-US governments in the region like Japan and South Korea sanctioned hundreds. I think in the case of Australia, there has been more than a thousand individuals and entities in Russia that were sanctioned by the Australian government over this whole war in Ukraine. So Australia has taken a very partisan side at this moment and it is actually pumping in a lot of aid and even equipments and arms even to the Ukrainian side in this entire war that we have seen that has unfolded in Ukraine. So even recently we are seeing that the Ukrainians are actually looking for significant donations in terms of fighter jets by the Australian state and it shows that the Australian state is quite cozy with the government there. So definitely this is part of an extended war like a diplomatic sort of war that Russia is embattled with because it's war in Ukraine and especially with these pro-Western governments. And we have to remember that they tend to show themselves as the international community very often but we must remember that it's just one block of certain governments who are actually taking the interest here and going overboard at this case. Even in the case of building an embassy it's just going overboard to try to block one country's embassy over you know your supposed state, a stated position in a war that is happening thousands of miles away from here. So definitely we need to remember all this when we talk about this incident right now. Obviously this case was long-standing that was always the argument that is being made but this whole thing about the security concern and also the statement like a very implicit statement made by Albanist himself where he said that Russia does not get to talk about international laws and customs since it apparently did not follow it during the war that is happening right now. So this whole thing definitely shows like that one very simple line that he made very clearly shows why this whole thing is happening right now and that there is an extended war of diplomatic cold war that is happening between Russia and pro-Western governments all around the world. It's not just Australia but like it is happening all around the world at this point. Thank you once again for joining us today Anish. Sectarian tensions erupted in India's state of Uttarakhand in the district of Purola on 29th May. A major rally was taken out by right-wing bodies demanding that Muslims leave the town. In videos of the rally that subsequently went viral mobs can be seen attacking Muslim-owned shops despite police presence. Subsequently posters were noticed on all Muslim run shops in the area threatening them with dire consequences. The harassment of Muslims hasn't been limited to Purola. In nearby town of Barcode shutters of shops owned by Muslims were marked with a black cross. We turn to Pragya now for the latest developments. Hi Pragya thanks for joining us. First off can you take us through the series of incidents that has taken place recently and towards the end of May and what has led to the situation at present? Yes Shreya so basically on 26th May in a hilly part of India in the small state of Uttarakhand there was one young girl and two boys who were on their way somewhere and they were waylaid by some people and the allegation was that this was a case of what the you know Hindu right in India refers to as love jihad meaning that since one of the two males with this young girl was a Muslim they and one of them was a Hindu one of them was a Muslim they alleged that this was a case of kidnapping they were taking the girl away without her you know without her consent and that the not only that they also alleged that the ultimate purpose of taking her away was to you know either marry her or in some way to make her into change her religion from Hindu to Muslim. Now none of these things are based in fact these are just allegations and claims and it has actually created a horrible situation in the town of Puroda and in the state of Uttarakhand which is ruled by the party which is ruling at the center the federal level in India which is the Bharti Shanta party and the latest update right now is that the Hindu organizations decided that they would hold a grand meeting a large meeting today which some civil rights activists tried to prevent it from happening by approaching the supreme court the supreme's court said that they should go to the court in the state of Uttarakhand which finally said that well the state government is responsible for upholding law and order meaning nothing untoward should be allowed to happen and finally the government issued some prohibitory orders and said that well you cannot have this grand assembly this grand meeting of Hindu religious people of the Hindu religion in this in this town and they seem to have effectively effectively prevented it from happening the reason for the concern about law and order which the high court has expressed is is that you know ever since the girl and those two young men with her were stopped from being together and the allegations were made against them all almost all the Muslim residents of Purola who have been there reportedly living there for the last five decades almost all of them have left the town now these are small populations of Muslims who live in the hilly parts of the state which is often very remote parts and inaccessible parts and they are really like they are really people who the interesting fact that has come out is also that many of these Muslims were supporters and members of the ruling party the ruling party has been saying that they are trying to woo Muslims Muslims of a you know you know a background which is not privileged under privileged Muslims they say that they're going to help them and they're going to assist them they're going to help them in their progress they're going to help them access government schemes and they're going to be invited to vote for the ruling party as well now some of the Muslims in this town were actually supporters voters and even held minor offices for this ruling party but all of them have had to leave they have been talking to the media news click where i work has also been reporting on this issue that they are extremely disappointed and shocked and you know essentially you are rendering people homeless and the question arises you have had scum issues you've shut down their shops according to a report file news click there were 45 shops owned in polola by Muslims 42 of the shop owners and all of the muslim shop boys who worked in those shops have left so then what is the purpose of the Hindus getting together if anything it is for the state government and you know the central government since it's the same party to get together and try and find a way to get the communities to gather right right and on that note pragya i mean it may be too early to say something but where do you think this is headed given how utrakhan's politics is you mentioned it's also ruled by the bhartiya janta party which is also at the center so what do you think about that yeah shreyas hard to really predict but obviously there is a very big election coming in india next year and for the bhartiya janta party the ruling party the primary platform on which they have been asking for votes regularly in election after election whether they win or lose is the hindu plank you know the hindu plan what what what can be translated as hindu ness and you know creating this fear of losing your hindu identity among the people who constitute more than 80 percent of the population creating that fear vis-a-vis the muslims who are according to the last census about 15 to 16 percent of the population that has been their main agenda the problem is not just the fact that they are basing their politics on what is untrue but that it's actually affecting people's lives utrakhan is a tourist dependent state the local people who live there had been living peacefully now this love jihad agenda which is you know totally a trumped up agenda has been used to divide people who live together for for decades so the i mean you asked me where can it go you know it it's up to people actually to turn around and say that they don't agree and unfortunately in pruvala we're finding that the muslims who have left naturally they're very upset they're very angry and they have been saying that they are upset because the they're hindu neighbors never asked them to uh you know stay back and that is where i think the government needs to intervene that's what people also need to put pressures uh to ensure that communities aren't divided for politics because what is happening in utrakhan could very well become the bgp's model for the entire nation to model you know in a few months when the election campaign heats up and like i said they do it whether they do not lose so uh you know it's not about what happens to the electoral fortunes of one party or the other but that the economic losses the social losses the that entire fabric should not be torn apart thanks for that important update pragya thanks for joining us thanks riya and that's all we have for today for more such stories keep watching people's dispatch dot o r g you can also follow us on facebook twitter and instagram