By Patrick Markey

QUITO, March 28 (Reuters) - Ecuador's top lawmaker urged the constitutional court to make a swift ruling on the fate of 57 fired lawmakers to avoid more confrontation over President Rafael Correa's plan to rewrite the constitution.

Correa, a left-winger elected in November, is popular for his promise for reforms to curtail the influence of traditional political parties that many Ecuadoreans blame for the chronic instability that has ousted three presidents in a decade.

The U.S.-trained economist won ground in his tussle with lawmakers earlier this month when a court fired 57 of them for obstructing his proposal. But opposition leaders say they were dismissed illegally and recently clashed with police as they tried to force their way into the legislature.

Some of the ousted lawmakers have been replaced by substitutes, handing Correa a delicate majority in the chamber, but the dismissed legislators hope the constitutional court could rule this week that they were illegally sacked.

"The authorities are not doing much to find a solution. We have a president who believes in confrontation, who pushes the people to be involved in confrontation," Congress President Jorge Cevallos told Reuters at his office late on Tuesday.

"The country cannot go from chaos to more chaos ... I urge the constitutional court to assume its responsibilities and issue a ruling as soon as possible," said Cevallos, who belongs to the Prian opposition party.

Several legal challenges have been filed against the dismissal of the lawmakers, but the constitutional court has the final decision.

With only two months in office, Correa has already clashed with lawmakers whom he brands corrupt elites. He says his political and economic overhaul will better address the needs of the poor in South America's No. 5 oil producer.

But his opponents fear Correa will use a citizens' assembly to revamp the constitution to weaken the legislature and bolster presidential powers as his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did after his election.

Ecuadoreans are due to vote in an April referendum whether to convoke the constitutional assembly.

"If the Ecuadorean people and the majority are in favor of a referendum and then a constitutional assembly why would I oppose it?" Cevallos said.

"But we are obliged to make them reflect, that it is not the solution, the panacea for all problems, we have had 20 constitutional reforms and the country has not changed."

Congress has played a role in the ousting of three elected presidents in the last decade. Rebellious lawmakers helped oust President Lucio Gutierrez in 2005 after accusing him of meddling with the independence of the constitutional court.

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