Ecuador’s government structure is set by the 2008 Constitution, which organizes the country as a unitary, decentralized republic and distributes public power across five separate functions rather than the familiar three branches. Alongside the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, the Constitution recognizes an Electoral Function and a Transparency and Social Control Function, each with its own constitutional standing. Article 1 defines Ecuador as “a constitutional State of rights and justice, a social, democratic, sovereign, independent, unitary, intercultural, multinational and secular State.”1Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database. Ecuador
Splitting electoral administration and anticorruption oversight off from the three traditional powers was a deliberate design choice, meant to shield those areas from political interference. Each of the five functions gets its own chapter in Title IV of the Constitution.2Political Database of the Americas. Ecuador Constitution of 2008
The Executive
The President is both Head of State and Head of Government and holds the country’s highest administrative authority. Presidents and Vice Presidents run on a single ticket for a four-year term. To win in the first round, a ticket needs an absolute majority of valid votes, with one exception: a runoff can be avoided if the leading ticket captures at least 40 percent of valid votes and finishes more than 10 percentage points ahead of the runner-up. Otherwise the top two tickets meet in a second round.3Political Database of the Americas. Ecuador 2008 Constitution in English – Article 143
Term limits have moved back and forth. A 2015 legislative amendment eliminated them; a 2018 national referendum restored them. Under the current rules, a former president may serve again but not in consecutive terms.
The President defines national policy, issues executive decrees, and commands the armed forces and police. Cabinet ministers are freely appointed and removed by the President, and each runs a policy area or public service portfolio.
The National Assembly
Legislative power sits with the unicameral National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional), which has 137 members elected for four-year terms. Seats come from a mixed system: 116 members represent single-seat provincial constituencies chosen by plurality, 15 are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide district, and 6 represent Ecuadorians living abroad in multi-seat constituencies.4IFES Election Guide. Ecuadorian National Assembly 2025 General
The Assembly drafts and passes national legislation, ratifies international treaties, and exercises political oversight. It can initiate impeachment against the President, Vice President, and Ministers of State. Removing a sitting president requires a two-thirds supermajority, meaning 92 of 137 members, and can only be invoked once during the first three years of a legislative term.
Muerte Cruzada: Mutual Dissolution
One of the most distinctive parts of Ecuador’s design is a mechanism called muerte cruzada, or “mutual death.” Either the President or the Assembly can end the other, but doing so ends both, and fresh elections fill the remainder of the interrupted terms.
Under Article 130, the Assembly may remove the President for assuming powers beyond those granted by the Constitution (with a favorable Constitutional Court ruling) or because of a serious political crisis and domestic upheaval. Either ground needs a two-thirds vote. If removal succeeds, the Vice President takes over, and the National Electoral Council must call simultaneous presidential and legislative elections within seven days.
Article 148 mirrors this power for the President, who may dissolve the Assembly when it has exceeded its constitutional authority (again with a Constitutional Court ruling), when it repeatedly and unjustifiably blocks the National Development Plan, or in the face of severe political crisis and domestic unrest.5Parliamentarians for Global Action. Bras de Fer Between Ecuador’s Executive and National Assembly Once the President dissolves the Assembly, elections for both branches must follow, and in the interim the President may govern only through economically urgent decree-laws subject to Constitutional Court review.
The mechanism moved from theory to practice in May 2023, when President Guillermo Lasso invoked Article 148 on the ground of severe political crisis just as the Assembly was advancing his impeachment trial. The dissolution ended Lasso’s own presidency and triggered early elections for both branches.
The Judiciary
Ordinary courts sit under the National Court of Justice (Corte Nacional de Justicia), which functions as a Court of Cassation reviewing lower-court decisions for consistent application of law and developing binding precedent.6Center for the Administration of Justice. Ecuador
Separate from the ordinary courts is the Constitutional Court (Corte Constitucional), the supreme authority on constitutional interpretation. It rules on the constitutionality of laws, international treaties, and administrative acts, and it decides appeals involving constitutional rights guarantees. The Constitutional Court also acts as gatekeeper for muerte cruzada proceedings and determines which procedure applies to proposed constitutional changes.7Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 443
Administration, discipline, and oversight of the entire judicial system fall to the National Council of the Judicature (Consejo de la Judicatura), which handles budgets, appointments of lower-court judges, and internal discipline.6Center for the Administration of Justice. Ecuador
Indigenous Jurisdiction
Ecuador’s declaration as a plurinational state has real force in the judicial system. Article 171 recognizes that authorities of indigenous communities, peoples, and nations exercise jurisdictional functions based on their ancestral traditions and their own legal systems within their territories, applying their own procedures to resolve internal disputes so long as outcomes do not contradict the Constitution or internationally recognized human rights.8Political Database of the Americas. Ecuador 2008 Constitution in English – Article 171 Public institutions must respect those decisions, which remain subject to constitutional review, and the law provides for coordination between indigenous and ordinary court systems.
The Electoral Function
The Electoral Function is run by the National Electoral Council (Consejo Nacional Electoral, or CNE), an autonomous body responsible for organizing, directing, and overseeing all electoral processes.9National Electoral Council. National Electoral Council Resolution PLE-CNE-1-17-11-2012 Article 219 assigns the CNE a broad set of duties: calling elections, counting votes, announcing results, swearing in winners, controlling campaign spending, maintaining the voter registration list, registering political organizations, and supervising their internal elections.10Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 219 The CNE also administers public campaign financing and can impose sanctions for electoral violations.
Transparency and Social Control
The fifth function is led by the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS). It promotes civic engagement, sets up mechanisms for government accountability, and investigates reports of corruption or misuse of public resources. The CPCCS has seven standing members elected by direct popular vote for four-year terms, coinciding with local government elections.11Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 207 Candidates cannot have been affiliated with any political party during the five years before the election.
The CPCCS appoints several senior watchdog officials, including the Ombudsman, the Comptroller General, and heads of the various Superintendencies. Those selections are meant to run through merit-based public processes rather than political negotiation, insulating oversight roles from the executive and legislative branches. The Council also influences certain appointments within the electoral and judicial functions.
Sub-National Government
Ecuador’s 24 provinces are divided into cantons (municipalities), which are further subdivided into urban and rural parishes. Each level has its own elected authorities and a degree of functional, financial, and administrative autonomy, including the power to issue local ordinances and manage its own budget.
At the provincial level, an elected Prefect presides over the provincial council and handles inter-cantonal matters such as road infrastructure and environmental management. At the canton level, an elected Mayor leads the municipal council and runs day-to-day local services like urban planning, sanitation, and public transportation. Rural parishes are governed by a parish board with its own elected president.
Changing the Constitution
The 2008 Constitution sets three tracks for constitutional change, each with heavier requirements as the proposed change gets more fundamental.
- Amendment under Article 441 covers changes that do not alter the state’s fundamental structure, restrict rights, or modify the amendment procedure itself. It can be triggered by presidential or citizen-backed referendum (at least 8 percent of registered voters) or by a bill introduced by at least one-third of Assembly members. The Assembly route requires two rounds of debate separated by at least one year and a two-thirds supermajority for final approval.12Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 441
- Partial reform under Article 442 covers more substantial changes that still do not restrict rights or alter the amendment process. It can be initiated by the President, by citizens with at least 1 percent of registered voter support, or by an Assembly majority. The Assembly debates the proposal in two rounds separated by at least 90 days, and the approved text must then pass a national referendum by simple majority.13Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 442
- A complete overhaul under Article 444 requires convening a new constituent assembly, which can only be called by referendum. That referendum may be requested by the President, by two-thirds of the Assembly, or by 12 percent of registered voters. Any new constitution the assembly produces must itself be ratified by popular vote.14Constitute Project. Ecuador 2008 (rev. 2021) – Article 444
The Constitutional Court decides which track applies to any given proposal, preventing use of the lighter amendment procedure for changes that call for heavier scrutiny.
Rights of Nature
Ecuador became the first country in the world to grant constitutional rights to nature when the 2008 Constitution was adopted. Articles 71 through 74 treat the natural world as a rights-bearing subject rather than merely a resource. Article 71 states that “Nature, or Pacha Mama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes.”15Political Database of the Americas. Ecuador 2008 Constitution in English – Article 71
Any person, community, or people can petition public authorities to enforce these rights, without needing to show personal harm. Nature also has a separate right to ecological restoration under Article 72, independent of any obligation to compensate people harmed by environmental damage. The state must apply preventive measures against activities that could cause species extinction, ecosystem destruction, or permanent alteration of natural cycles, and it is forbidden to introduce materials that could permanently alter the national genetic heritage.16Political Database of the Americas. Ecuador 2008 Constitution in English – Article 73 Courts have ruled in nature’s favor in several disputes involving mining and deforestation, so these provisions operate as enforceable law rather than aspirational language.