Ecudaor’s President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the country after an anti-corruption presidential candidate was assassinated less than two weeks before elections.
The measure will be in place for 60 days, Lasso announced on Thursday after a meeting of his security cabinet. He also ordered the nationwide mobilisation of the armed forces to protect citizens and manage the election process.
The early presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for August 20, are to go ahead as planned, said the Ecuadorian leader while declaring a three-day nationwide state of mourning.
Unknown gunmen fired at presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio as he got in a car following a political rally in Quito around 6:20 pm on Wednesday evening, local media reported.
The South American country’s Attorney General’s office said that a suspect was badly injured in an exchange of fire with security personnel, and later died on the way to hospital. Six people have been arrested, added Lasso.
Prosecutors also said that nine people were injured in the attack, including a parliamentary candidate and two police officers. Lasso called Villavicencio’s murder a political crime with elements of terrorism. “We have no doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process,” he said.
Villavicencio was the presidential candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement, and was in fourth or fifth place in recent polls. As a journalist and Member of Parliament, he had repeatedly criticized the widespread corruption in Ecuador.
These had become necessary after Lasso had called the early elections after dissolving the National Assembly in the midst of impeachment proceedings against him for alleged embezzlement. Ecuador is in the midst of a political crisis. Approval ratings for the government and parliament are very low.
Violence in Ecuador has recently increased significantly. The number of homicides rose in 2022 from 2,115 to 4,603. The homicide rate of 25 per 100,000 inhabitants was the highest in the country’s history.