AFP – Ecuadorans headed to the polls yesterday in a presidential election tarnished by the murder of a top candidate, which cast a spotlight on the violence ravaging a once-peaceful nation caught up in the illicit global drug trade.
Polls opened at 1200 GMT and voting continued until 5pm as Ecuadorans picked a successor to Guillermo Lasso, who called a snap election to avoid an impeachment trial just two years after his election.
Soldiers have been deployed across the small South American country to secure the vote following a tense campaign in which the eight presidential candidates have campaigned in bulletproof vests.
Ecuador has in recent years become a playground for foreign drug mafia seeking to export cocaine, stirring up a brutal war between local gangs.
Several political assassinations marked the run-up to the vote, with the murder of serious presidential contender Fernando Villavicencio just 11 days from the election underscoring the challenges facing the country.
“These are completely atypical elections, in a situation basically of horror that Ecuador is going through… due to the existing violence, but which manifested itself in a more acute and atrocious way with Villavicencio’s murder,” political scientist Anamaria Correa Crespo told AFP.
In 2022, the country hit a record of 26 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, higher than the rate in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.
Lasso dissolved Congress in May to avoid an impeachment amid a corruption trial.
Leading the polls before Villavicencio’s murder was Luisa Gonzalez, 45, a lawyer from the leftist party of former president Rafael Correa. However, observers say the assassination may have shaken up the race.
The new president will take office on October 26 and will only serve the remainder of Lasso’s term, a year and a half.
To win in the first round a candidate must capture 40 per cent of the votes or come 10 points ahead of their nearest competitor. A potential run-off is scheduled for October 15.
Voters will also elect members of the 137-seat Parliament.
