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THE 2018 CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN ECUADOR AND THE TRANSITORY COUNCIL... Court. As mentioned above, guestion 3 gave the TCCPSC the constitutional powers the legislature has to audit and remove from office those authorities who fail to perform theirs tasks. But not even the Parliament has the power to remove the justices of the Constitutional Court. Article 431 of the Constitution provides that “the members of the Constitutional Court shall not be subject to impeachment, nor can they be removed from office by those who appoint them”. Part of the doctrine considered that this constitutional provision was not applicable to the transition regimen because the latter was the result of direct democracy.’ Similar arguments were given regarding the powers the TCCPSC took for itself to appoint transitory authorities and to pass regulations on how the definite replacements ought to be appointed. Julio César Trujillo, president of the TCCPSC, stated that the contradictions between the Constitution and the decisions and regulations approved by the TCCPSC should be decided in favour of the latter because they were the expression of the will of the people." The only legal basis the TCCPSC and its supporters gave to justify their arguments was a judgment of the Constitutional Court that decided that the transition regimen approved in 2008, when the current Constitution was adopted, had the same status as the Constitution. In the TCCPSC’s opinion, the very same conclusion had to be applied to the 2018 transition regime."' It is true that in 2008 the Constitutional Court decided that the transition regime had the same status as the Constitution and that in some cases of contradiction between the Constitution and the transition regime the latter prevailed.” But the TC Lawfare segunda parte, caso Ecuador, Ruta Kritica (4 July 2018), https://rutakritica. org/2018/07/04/lawfare-segunda-parte-caso-ecuador-2/; Xavier Flores, La Contraloria ecuatoriana contra los derechos, Xavier Flores Aguirre Blog (15 April 2019), https://xaflag. blogspot.com/2019/04/la-contraloria-ecuatoriana-contra-los.html. Hernan Salgado Pesantes, La evaluaciön y destituciön de los jueces constitucionales, El Universo (27 May 2018), https://www.eluniverso.com/opinion/2018/05/27/nota/6779270/ evaluacion-destitucion-jueces-constitucionales. Salgado Pesantes was later appointed by the TCCPSC as a justice of the Constitutional Court. Gina Chavez Vallejo, jLa Constitucién esta por encima del Consejo de Participacién Transitorio!, Ruta Kritica (17 June 2018), https://rutakritica.org/2018/06/17/la-constitucionesta-por-encima-del-consejo-de-participacion-transitorio/; Cesar Trujillo dice que el CPCCS sí está por encima de la Constitucién!, (8 May 2018). Video streamed at the National Assembly by congressman Juan Cristdbal Lloret, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9bI Vm Kw4Nw; Julio Cesar Trujillo, Cpccs transitorio modificé la Constituciön con el mandato para la selecciön de autoridades, El Comercio (9 May 2018), https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/ cpccs-modificacion-constitucion-autoridades-concursos.html; Julio Cesar Trujillo, Nuestros mandatos estan a nivel constitucional, El Telégrafo (30 March 2018), https://www.eltelegrafo. com.ec/noticias/politica/3/trujillo-nuestros-mandatos-estan-a-nivel-constitucional. "1 TCCPSC, Resolution No. PLE-CPCCS-T-O-028-09-05-2018, May, 9, 2018. 2 Constitutional Court, Judgment 002-0S-SI-CC, Cases OOOS-OS-IC and 0009-0S-IC, December 10, 2008. + 367 +
