El mecanismo de participación ciudadana Silla Vacía y su efectividad en el GAD de Guayaquil.

Abstract

The Constitution of Ecuador of 2008 is a considerable guarantee in terms of the rights of individuals regarding the relation to citizen participation and social control, and with constitutional provisions as the highest standard there are several laws that enshrine the principles and mechanisms to make these participation rights effective. One of these mechanisms is the Empty Chair, instituted as such in the Organic Law of Citizen Participation, in the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization, and in the Constitution itself. The purpose of this participation mechanism is that citizens can have presence and vote in the sessions related to the Decentralized Autonomous Governments, with the fulfilment of the prerequisites related to the topics to be handled beforehand, however, this purpose has not been carried out effectively yet, as access to it has been reduced to mere verbal agreements due to the obstacles the Decentralized Autonomous Governments have put to its citizens, either as requirements for application or denying their right based on prescribed rules from ordinances that, rather than maintaining the guaranteeable dispositions of the Constitution, they become obstacles to the exercise of the participatory powers of citizens. This academic article intends to propose an analysis of the application and result of the mechanism of the Empty Ch air, specifically in the Decentralized Autonomous Government of Guayaquil, as well as covering the general and fundamental aspects of the Empty Chair as a form of citizen participation and social control.