Ecuadorian Elections Underway with Heightened Security After Candidate’s Killing
After the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio less than two weeks before the election, Ecuadoreans are voting for a new president in early elections amidst a strong security presence.
Former journalist and lawmaker Villavicencio was shot and killed after leaving a campaign event in Quito on August 9. Six suspects, all Colombians believed to be members of criminal gangs, are being held in connection with the homicide. Another suspect died as a result of gunshot wounds.
Christian Zurita, Villavicencio’s replacement, cast his vote while wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet at a polling place in the Republica de Bolivia school in northern Quito, surrounded by dozens of police and army special forces.
A week before the election, Zurita, a close friend of Villavicencio, became the new Construye 25 (or Build 25) party candidate. As a fellow investigative journalist, he had also received death threats, some attributed to drug cartels linked to prison massacres and a homicide rate that has increased fivefold in the past decade.
“These are difficult and dark moments for the country, but we are up to it,” Zurita told journalists. “We will face with determination [the challenge] to move our country forward under the principles and programmes which we have proposed.
“We must expose all the possible threats against us. Remember, that’s how they killed Fernando,” he added.
Candidates have pledged to combat both the crime wave and the lagging economy, which has forced many unemployed Ecuadorians to migrate.
Villavicencio’s third assassination this year appeared to be on voters’ minds at a polling station in Quito, just metres from where the killing occurred.
“Here, what we need is a leader who first of all guarantees that all citizens can move freely,” Jose Luis Hernandez, 37, said.
“In the building next door, they killed Fernando Villavicencio, so these are situations that we as Ecuadoreans—in a country that used to be one of peace and tranquility—did not see coming.”
Janet Castro, 55, a teacher who voted for pro-market candidate Otto Sonnenholzner, said: “I think that he has a good plan for our safety because that is our main problem. He also has good ideas for our economic situation.”
During a vote in the capital, former president and parliamentary candidate Lucio Gutiérrez said Ecuador needed international assistance to combat Mexican and Balkan drug cartels operating in the country.
“Ecuador is bleeding to death, Ecuador is falling apart, and if there is no unity between the executive and the legislature, the state could collapse, it could become a failed state,” he added.
Former Interior Minister and Candidates Discuss Fighting Crime and Corruption
Former Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo Rosero, who voted at the same polling station, denied accusations that the country was becoming a “narcostate” but said organised crime and illegal economies had infiltrated the state.
“We have to fight corruption and break with this agenda of impunity, that is fundamental,” he said.
According to the interior ministry, 100,000 soldiers have been deployed across the country to safeguard the electoral process.
Outgoing President Guillermo Lasso called the snap election in May to avoid being impeached by a hostile parliament, which he then dissolved in a constitutional move.
Whoever is elected will only be in power for about a year and a half until 2025. If no candidate receives a clear majority, a runoff election will be held in October.
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Source: The Guardian
