29. The 1998 Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador reads: Article 119 The institutions of the State, their agencies and departments, and public officials shall have only the powers that are set out in the Constitution and by law, and shall have the obligation to coordinate their actions towards the achievement of the common good. Those institutions so identified by the Constitution and the law shall enjoy organizational and functional autonomy. […] Article 130 The National Congress shall have the following duties and powers: […] To institute impeachment proceedings, at the request of one-fourth of the members of the National Congress, against the President and the Vice President of the Republic, ministers of state, the Comptroller General and Solicitor General, the Ombudsman, the Prosecutor General; superintendents, members of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, during their term of office and up to one year after their terms have concluded. The President and Vice President may be subject to impeachment only for the commission of crimes against state security or crimes of extortion, bribery, embezzlement and malfeasance, and they may be censured or dismissed from office only by affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of Congress. Criminal proceedings are not a requirement for the process to take place. The other public officers named in this article may be subject to impeachment proceedings for constitutional or legal offenses committed in the performance of their duties. The Congress may censure them if they are found guilty by a majority of its members. The censure shall produce immediate dismissal from office, with the exception of ministers of state, whose tenure in office shall be determined by the President. If the censure proceedings should produce evidence of criminal liability by the public officer, the matter shall be turned over to the courts. 11. To appoint […] members of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, […] to receive their recusal or resignation, and to appoint their replacements. When new appointments are to be made from a three-person slate, the names of the candidates must be submitted within 20 days after the vacancy occurred. If the slates are not received within this period, the Congress shall proceed with appointments without a slate. The National Congress shall make its appointments within 30 days after it receives each slate. Otherwise, the person named at the top of the slate shall be held as appointed. Article 199 The organs of the judiciary shall be independent in the exercise of their duties and powers. No State function may interfere in matters inherent to the judiciary. Judges and justices shall be independent in the performance of their judicial powers even from other judicial bodies; they shall be subject only to the Constitution and laws. Article 209 The Supreme Electoral Tribunal, headquartered in Quito and with nationwide jurisdiction, is a public law legal entity. It shall enjoy administrative and financial autonomy to organize and perform its duties of organizing, directing, monitoring, and guaranteeing electoral processes, and issue opinions on statements of account submitted by political parties, political movements, organizations and candidates, concerning the amounts, origin and use of resources employed in electoral campaigns. 9