Ecuador 2008 Constitution (reviewed 2021)

TRANSITION SYSTEM

CHAPTER 1. Nature of the transition

Article 1

If the people adopt, in a Ratification Referendum, the Political Constitution of the Republic, the provisions set forth in the present Transition System shall be applied.

CHAPTER 2. Elections

Article 2. Responsibility for elections

The process of electing public officials indicated in the present transition provisions shall be organized and directed by the National Electoral Council.

Article 3. General elections

The National Electoral Council, in a maximum term of thirty (30) days as of its investiture, on the basis of the provisions of the law, shall convene general elections to designate the following public offices:

1. President and Vice-President of the Republic.
2. Five (5) representatives to the Andean Parliament.
3. Members of the National Assembly elected by provincial districts, the national district and the special district for those living abroad. In each province, two Assembly persons shall be elected, plus one Assembly person for every two hundred thousand (200,000) inhabitants or fraction over fifty thousand (50,000); fifteen (15) national Assembly persons; and six (6) for Ecuadorians residing abroad, on the basis of the following breakdown: two for Europe, the Pacific Rim and Asia; two for Canada and the United States; and two for Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
4. Provincial prefects and deputy prefects.
5. Mayors.
6. Five (5) and a maximum of fifteen (15) council persons in each canton, as provided for in Article 27 of the Organic Law of the Municipal System.
7. Five (5) members in each one of the rural parish boards, and the one obtaining the highest number of votes cast shall be Chair.

Application of the above provisions shall be based on the latest population census.

Article 4. Submittal of candidacies

In these elections, political organizations and alliances participating in the election of Assembly persons shall be entitled to submit candidacies.

Other political organizations are also entitled to submit candidacies, for which purpose they must show support based on a list of signatures accounting for one percent (1%) of the citizens on the corresponding voter registration list. To this end, the National Electoral Council shall provide the necessary forms.

The mum-persons candidacies shall be submitted in complete slates with principal candidates and their respective alternates. The slates shall be established in an egalitarian fashion with a sequence of woman, man or man, woman until the total number of candidates has been completed.

Article 5. Form of voting

Voters shall choose the candidates of their choice as follows:

1. On the ballots for President and Vice-Present, Members of the Andean Parliament, Prefects and Deputy Prefects, and Mayors, by checking the box on the slate.
2. On the ballots for National Assembly Persons, Provincial Assembly Persons, Assembly Persons from the Special District of Persons Living Abroad, Council Persons and Members of Rural Parish Boards, by checking the boxes of the candidates from one or various slates.

Article 6. Allocation of seats

To award seats, the following provisions shall be applied:

1. In the elections of President and Vice-President of the Republic, as provided for in the Political Constitution of the Republic.
2. In the elections of the Prefects and Deputy Prefects, as well as for the mayors, the winners shall be those who earn the highest number of votes.
3. In the elections of members of the Andean Parliament, the following procedure shall be applied:
   1. The votes achieved by each one of the slates shall be added up.
   2. These results are divided for the series of numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11,… until there are as many quotients as there are positions to be allocated.
   3. The quotients obtained are ranked from highest to fewest; to each slate shall be assigned the positions that correspond to it, in accordance with the highest quotients.
   4. Once the above procedure has been duty completed, if all the quotients correspond to one single slate, the last position shall be assigned to the slate that follows it in terms of votes.
   5. In the case of a tie, lots shall be drawn to define the winning slate of the position.
   6. The seats achieved by the slates shall be allocated to the candidates according to the order on the slate.
4. In the elections for national Assembly persons, provincial Assembly persons, and Assembly persons representing nationals living abroad, municipal council persons and members of rural parish boards, the following procedure shall be used:
5. In those voting precincts where two (2) public officials are elected, the first position shall correspond to the slate that obtains the highest number of votes; the second position shall correspond to the one that follows in terms of votes, as long as it accounts for at least 35% of the votes of the above-mentioned slate; otherwise both positions shall correspond to the most voted slate.
6. Where three (3) or more public officials are elected, the following steps shall be taken:
   1. The votes obtained by the candidates from each one of the slates shall be added up.
   2. These results shall be divided for the series of numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11,… until both quotients and positions to be assigned are obtained.
   3. The quotients obtained are ranked from highest to lowest; to each slate shall be assigned the positions pertaining to it, on the basis of the highest quotients.
   4. Once the above procedure has been duly completed, if all the quotients correspond to one single slate, the last position shall be assigned to the slate that follows in terms of voting.
   5. If there is a tie, lots shall be drawn to determine the winning slate of the position.
   6. The seats earned by the slate shall be assigned to the candidates with the highest number of votes from each slate.

Article 7. Urban and rural precincts

For the elections of council persons in the cantons, there shall be two types of voting precincts, an urban precinct and a rural precinct, comprised of the voters of the urban and rural parishes, respectively.

In each precinct, the number stemming from multiplying all council persons of the canton by the percentage of the population of the corresponding precinct shall be elected. The figure shall be rounded out to the closest whole number. When the amount does not amount to one, then one single council person shall be elected in the precinct.

In those cantons that do not have rural parishes, there shall be one single voting precinct, where all the council persons shall be elected.

Article 8. Voter registration list

The voter registration list shall be drawn up on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution. The time-limits set in the Organic Law for Elections for updating residence information and drawing up the voter registration list shall be observed.

Article 9. Timetable and terms of office

Public officials elected by universal suffrage shall start their terms of office as follows and on the basis of the following timetable:

1. The National Assembly, without the need for prior call, shall meet thirty (30) days after the results of the elections of all public offices have been announced. On that same date, prefects and deputy prefects, mayors, council persons and members of rural parish boards shall begin their respective terms of office.
2. The representatives to the Andean Parliament shall be sworn into office before the National Assembly five (5) days after it is installed.
3. The President and Vice-President of the Republic shall start their term of office ten (10) days after installation of the National Assembly, before which they shall be sworn into office.

The President and Vice-President of the Republic shall complete their term of office at the head of the government on May 24, 2013; the members of the Andean Parliament shall complete their terms of office on May 19, 2013; and the members of the National Assembly, on May 14, 2013.

So that national and local elections are not held at the same time, the following two terms of office for prefects and deputy prefects, municipal council persons and members of rural parish boards, for this period and the next, shall end on May 14, 2014 and May 14, 2019.

Article 10. Calculating terms of office

The term of office of the public officials elected on the basis of the provisions of the Transition System shall be considered their first term of office for all legal purposes.

Article 11. Termination of term of office

The President and Vice-President of the Republic, the members of the Andean Parliament, prefects, mayors, council persons of the majority or minority, members of rural parish boards who are holding office at the time of the Ratification Referendum shall end their terms of office on the dates when those who were elected on the basis of the regulatory provisions of the Transition System are sworn into office.

Article 12. Control over electoral and campaign spending

For this process, Article 10 of the Organic Law on Control over Electoral and Campaign Spending is applicable, using the following values for the corresponding calculation:

1. Election of the President and Vice-President of the Republic: zero point fifteen dollars (US$0.15);
2. Election of members of the Andean Parliament: zero point zero five dollars (US$0.05);
3. Election of national and provincial Assembly persons and prefects: zero point fifteen dollars (US$0.15);
4. Election of Assembly persons representing nationals living abroad: zero point thirty dollars (US$0.30);
5. Election of mayors: zero point fifteen dollars (US$0.15);
6. Election of council persons: the maximum amount shall be sixty percent (60%) of the amount set for the respective mayor;
7. Election of members of parish boards: zero point thirty dollars (US$0.30.

Where the law refers to congresspersons, it means Assembly persons.

Article 13. Campaign funding

The State, through the budget of the National Electoral Council, shall exclusively fund electoral campaigning in the press, on radio and television and on commercial billboards for all one-person or multiperson candidacies, except for those of rural parish boards.

Article 14. Prohibition to engage in campaigning

During the electoral campaign, in observance of constitutional and legal provisions, it is forbidden for State offices and institutions to carry out political campaigning activities or advertising or to use their assets and resources for these purposes.

Private outsourcing of political campaigning activities and advertising about the electoral process in the press, on the radio or television, or on commercial billboards is also forbidden.

Candidates and political organizations cannot make donations, bribes, or gifts to citizens.

Article 15. Enforcement of provisions

The bodies of the Electoral Branch of Government shall enforce all the provisions of the Constitution, the Organic Law of Elections and all other related laws, as long as they are not contrary to the present regulatory framework and contribute to complying with the electoral process. This enforcement extends to imposing sanctions for failure to comply with, breaches of, or offenses against these provisions. If necessary, in the framework of their jurisdiction, they can also set the standards needed to enforce the new constitutional system.

CHAPTER 3. Institutional transition

Article 16. Transition process

Once the Constitution has been adopted and for the purpose of facilitating the institutional changes it envisages, the transition process provided for in the regulations indicated below shall be implemented.

Article 17. Legislative Branch of Government

The terms of office of the standing and alternate congresspersons who were elected on October 15, 2006 are hereby terminated.

Five days after announcing the results of the Ratification Referendum, the Constituent Assembly shall meet to set up the Legislative and Auditing Committee, making efforts to uphold the political proportionality that prevailed in the plenary of the Constituent Assembly.

This Legislative and Auditing Committee shall perform the duties of the National Assembly as provided for in the Constitution, until the Assembly persons are elected and sworn into office, as provided for in the present Transition System.

Article 18. Electoral Branch of Government

For the purpose of facilitating the immediate holding of elections as provided for in the present Transition System, the Constituent Assembly shall designate those who shall provisionally comprise the National Electoral Court and the Electoral Dispute Settlement Court.

Members of these bodies so designated shall be replaced by those who win the competitive processes provided for by the Constitution. The selection process shall start once the election process has been completed.

Article 19

The officials and employees of the Electoral Supreme Tribunal and the provincial electoral tribunals whose appointment and recall are not discretionary shall continue to perform their duties in the Electoral Branch and shall be subject to a process of selection and qualification in keeping with the needs of the new bodies.

The assets of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall be transferred to the assets of the Electoral Branch.

Article 20. Judiciary Council

The current Plenary of the Judiciary Council is dissolved. In its stead, a Transitional Judiciary Council is created and comprised of three designated delegates and their respective deputies. Appointments of such delegates and deputies shall be made: one by the President of the Republic, one by the National Assembly and one by the Transparency and Social Control Agency. All delegates and deputies shall be subject to impeachment. The transitional Judiciary Council shall have all the powers established in the Constitution as well as those included in the Judicial Function Code (Código Orgánico de la Función Judicial), and shall serve for a period of 18 month, which may not be extended.

The definitive Judiciary Council shall be created by the procedure established in Article 179 of the amended Constitution. The Council for Public Participation and Social Control shall ensure that the members of the new Judiciary Council are appointed prior to expiry of the 18 months’ period of the Transitional Judiciary Council’s service.

The merits and opposition selection process organized by the Council for Public Participation and Social Control for the appointment of the Judiciary Council’s new members shall no longer be in force.

The First Transitory Provision of the Judiciary Code (Código Orgánico de la Función Judicial) shall be suppressed (deleted).

Article 21. National Court of Justice

Ten (10) days after announcing the results of the Ratification Referendum, the terms of office of the thirty-one (31) judges of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be terminated.

The National Electoral Court shall organize a public drawing of lots among the thirty-one (31) judges to choose the twenty-one (21) judges who shall be entrusted with the duties and responsibilities of the National Court of Justice, until the standing judges are designated on the basis of the procedures provided for by the Constitution.

Article 22

Once the law governing the establishment and functioning of the Judiciary Council has been enacted, this body shall set up the National Court of Justice and it shall also proceed to organize the Provincial Courts of Justice and the District and Criminal Courts, designating their members.

Article 23

With the partial renewal of the National Court of Justice, which shall take place after three years, the judges who must leave office shall be chosen on the basis of their performance evaluation. Those who have the lowest performance scores shall have their duties terminated. After six years, when the following partial renewal takes place, the seven judges who will have to leave office are those seven who have the lowest performance scores from among the fourteen judges remaining from the first group. The seven best judges shall remain in office nine years.

Article 24. Job security of officers of the judiciary

The job security of the staff of the judiciary whose recall is not discretionary, of the Supreme Court of Justice, the superior courts and district courts shall be guaranteed; they shall be relocated to positions with a similar salary in the National Court of Justice, provincial courts and chambers, respectively, after an evaluation and selection process.

Article 25. Constitutional Court

Once the new Legislative, Executive and Transparency and Social Control Branches of Government have been established, the qualification commission shall be organized to designate the judges that shall comprise the first Constitutional Court.

Each branch shall propose at least nine (9) candidates.

The rules and procedures for this competitive process shall be kid down by the Council for Public Participation and Social Control.

When it is time for renewal of the first third of the judges comprising the Court, lots shall be drawn to decide which judges must leave office. When it is time to renew the second third, lots shall be drawn among the six (6) judges who stayed from the first round of renewal.

Article 26

The employees of the Constitutional Tribunal, except for those whose appointment and recall are discretionary, shall continue to be employed by the Constitutional Court, after an evaluation and selection process.

Article 27. Transition of other entities

The terms of office of the members of the National Judiciary Council, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Electoral Court shall end when the members of the new Judiciary Council, the members of the Constitutional Court, the council persons of the National Electoral Council and the members of the Electoral Dispute Settlement Court are sworn into office. Their selection shall take place in conformity with the provisions of the Transition System and the Constitution.

Article 28. Term of office of the provisional designations

The provisional designations made by the Constituent Assembly for holding the following offices, that is, Comptroller General, State Prosecutor, Attorney-General, Human Rights Ombudsman, Superintendents of Telecommunications, Companies, Banks and Insurance shall remain in force until, in accordance with constitutional norms, their replacements are designated.

Article 29. Council for Public Participation and Social Control

The Legislative Committee, within fifteen (15) days after its establishment, shall launch a competitive and merit-based public examination process for the designation of the members of the Council for Public Participation and Social Control Once this Council has been established, it shall organize the 216 respective citizen selection commissions to choose the authorities and officials as provided for by the Constitution and law.

Until the law is enacted, the Council for Public Participation and Social Control shall regulate the establishment of the citizen selection commissions and shall issue the regulations for each competitive process, which shall be convened after the investiture of the officials elected by universal suffrage referred to by the Transition System.

It shall also have the power to designate the representatives of the Transparency and Social Control Branch of Government, in the citizen selection commissions.

The Council for Public Participation and Social Control, within one hundred twenty (120) days as of its investiture, shall draft a bill for an organic law governing its organization and functioning, which shall be submitted as a proposal to the National Assembly for its consideration.

Article 30

The public servants of the Commission for the Civil Control of Corruption and the National Anti-Corruption Secretariat whose appointment and recalled are not discretionary, shall become part of the Council for Public Participation and Social Control.

The assets of the Commission for the Civic Control of Corruption shall be transferred to the assets of the Council for Public Participation and Social Control

FINAL PROVISION

The present Constitution, adopted by referendum by the Ecuadorian people, shall enter into force the day it is published in the Official Register.