Ecuador votes in tense presidential election marred by candidate’s murder
- Ecuadorans are picking a successor to Guillermo Lasso, who called snap polls to avoid an impeachment trial just two years after his election
- The murder of serious presidential contender Fernando Villavicencio just 11 days from the election has underscored the challenges facing the country
Ecuadorans headed to the polls on Sunday 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 7am local time and voting was to go on 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.
“The most serious problem is insecurity,” said voter Eva Hurtado, 40, as she left a polling station north of the capital Quito on Sunday morning. “So many crimes, assassinations, disappearances. We are afraid.”
Ecuador has in recent years become a playground for foreign drug mafia seeking to export cocaine, stirring up a brutal war between local gangs.
