(Corrects date of presidential election in paragraph 3 to Feb. 9, not Feb. 25)
QUITO (Reuters) -An Ecuadorean judge on Monday overturned the temporary suspension from office of Vice President Veronica Abad, a move which could stymie President Daniel Noboa’s plans to take a leave of absence to campaign for re-election.
Noboa and Abad, elected last year to finish out their predecessors’ terms, have repeatedly clashed and Noboa sent Abad to Israel to act as ambassador and manage the South American country’s response to Israel’s war with Hamas.
Noboa is seen as unlikely to take unpaid campaign leave ahead of the Feb. 9 presidential contest if it would mean Abad would be briefly in charge of Ecuador.
Abad was suspended by the labor ministry in November on accusations she committed a “serious” disciplinary offense by failing to follow an order from the foreign ministry to leave Israel for Turkey before Sept. 1, due to security concerns.
Ecuador’s labor ministry must make a public apology to Abad within 72 hours of the suspension, the judge said in her ruling.
She has rejected the measure and said she was duly elected as vice president and therefore should assume the presidency during the campaign.
Neither Noboa nor the government immediately responded to the ruling.
(Reporting by Alexandra ValenciaWriting by Julia Symmes Cobb and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Alistair Bell)
