Politics

The politics of Ecuador takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Ecuador is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Congress. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The constitution of Ecuador provides for concurrent four-year terms of office for the president, vice president, and members of Congress. Presidents may be re-elected after an intervening term, while legislators may be re-elected immediately. Citizens must be at least 18 years of age to vote. Suffrage is universal and compulsory for literate persons ages 18-65 and optional for other eligible voters.

Executive Branch

The president and vice president are elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year term, and may only be re-elected after an intervening term. The executive branch includes 15 ministries.

Legislative Branch

Ecuador has a unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional. There are 100 members, who are elected by popular vote by province to serve four-year terms, so in fact multi-seat constituencies.

Congress meets throughout the year except for recess in July and December. There are 20 seven-member congressional committees.

Judicial Branch

Ecuador's legal system is based on the civil law system. Ecuador has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

New justices of the Supreme Court are elected by the sitting members of the court. A bare majority of Congress, acting in a special session called by former President Lucio Gutiérrez in December, 2004, ousted 27 of the 31 justices and replaced them with new members chosen by Congress, notwithstanding the lack of any provisions permitting impeachment of Supreme Court justices by Congress and the specific provisions giving the Court the power to select new members. Earlier, in November 2004, Congress replaced the majority of judges on the country's Electoral Court and Constitutional Court by a similar process.

Political Conditions

Ecuador's political parties have historically been small, loose organisations that depended more on populist, often charismatic, leaders to retain support than on programs or ideology. Frequent internal splits have produced extreme factionalism. However, a pattern has emerged in which administrations from the centre-left alternate with those from the centre-right. Although Ecuador's political elite is highly factionalised along regional, ideological, and personal lines, a strong desire for consensus on major issues often leads to compromise. Opposition forces in Congress are loosely organised, but historically they often unite to block the administration's initiatives and to remove cabinet ministers.

Constitutional changes enacted by a specially elected National Constitutional Assembly in 1998 took effect on August 10, 1998. The new constitution strengthens the executive branch by eliminating mid-term congressional elections and by circumscribing Congress' power to challenge cabinet ministers. Party discipline is traditionally weak, and routinely many deputies switch allegiance during each Congress. However, after the new Constitution took effect, the Congress passed a code of ethics which imposes penalties on members who defy their party leadership on key votes.