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THE 2018 CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN ECUADOR AND THE TRANSITORY COUNCIL... suspension of the legal deadline,* which meant that the days the Court was going to take in giving its opinion on the constitutionality of the questionare had to be counted for the purposes of Article 105 OLJGCC. The same day, Judge Ordefiana sent her draft opinion to the General Secretariat of the Constitutional Court. After a plenary session of November 28, 2017, the President of the Constitutional Court decided to convene an extraordinary session to be held on December 5, 2017, for the Court to discuss Judge Ordefiana’s opinion. Taking into account the days that the legal deadline was suspended, the Court was of the opinion that the deadline it had to decide on the constitutionality of the referendum was going to expire on December 7, 2017. The audio of the November 28 plenary session, as well as Judge Ordefiana’s opinion, were leaked. Judge Ordefiana considered that creating the TCCPSC would interfere with the other branches of government.* THE CALL FOR A REFERENDUM WITHOUT THE OPINION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT On November 29, 2017, without waiting for the Constitutional Court’s opinion, Moreno issued the Executive Decrees No. 229 and 230 calling Ecuadorians for a referendum and a popular consultation. The Executive Decrees justified the call arguing that: ‘As of this date far exceeded the term of 20 days provided for in Article 105 of the [OLJGCC] so that the highest body of constitutional control of the country issues an opinion on the constitutionality of the draft call for a referendum submitted by the President of the Republic; it is imperative to apply the legal effects anticipated to this omission, that is, that it will be understood that a favourable opinion has been issued”. Decrees 229 and 230 did not take into account the suspension of the legal deadline ordered by the judge rapporteur. If the President of the Republic considered that the Constitutional Court was not complying with the legal deadline, or that the Court’s rules of procedure could not modify the legal deadline, or that the judge rapporteur was not authorized to suspend the deadline, or any other reason, the President of the Republic could have presented objections. At no time Moreno 3 Constitutional Court, Judge Ordefiana’s Order, November 23, 2017. * "The complete audio of the November 28, 2017 plenary session and some extracts of Judge Ordeñana’s opinion are available at “Moreno minti6! Audio de la Corte Constitucional evidencia que llamado a Consulta es ilegal” (22 December 2017), Dato Duro, https:// datoduroec.tumblr.com/post/168832220497/moreno-minti%C3%B3-audio-de-la-corteconstitucional. + 363 *
