Ecuador holds presidential election amid heightened violence

Amid heavy security, Ecuadorans have headed to the polls in a presidential election tarnished by the murder of a top candidate, as the once-peaceful nation suffers from violence fuelled by the illicit global drug trade.

The murder on the campaign trail of presidential contender Fernando Villavicencio just 11 days before the vote on Sunday traumatised the country and reshuffled the electoral cards, with none of the eight contenders expected to get an absolute majority, likely forcing a runoff on October 15.

"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."

Polls opened at 7:00 am local (1200 GMT) and voting was to go on until 5:00 pm. Soldiers in body armour were deployed across the country to safeguard the process, and presidential candidates were wearing helmets and bulletproof vests.

Authorities deployed more than 100,000 police and soldiers to protect the vote against more violence. Some Ecuadorians still said they would not even leave home for the election, even though skipping the trip to the polls could result in a fine.

Front-runners include an ally of exiled former President Rafael Correa and a millionaire with a security background promising to be tough on crime.

Candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated on August 9 as he left a campaign rally in Quito, the capital of the once calm South American country.

The killing heightened people’s fears of spending time outside their homes and becoming victims of robberies, kidnappings, extortions, homicides, or any of the other crimes that have become commonplace.

Villavicencio’s slaying was the third and most prominent in a string of killings of political leaders this year. Six Colombian men have been arrested in connection with his killing.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata said this past week that the only restriction people will face when voting will be the inspection of backpacks. Street vendors will not be allowed near voting centres.

Presidential candidates

The election was called after President Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker, dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company.

He decided not to run in the special election.

The ballots were printed before another candidate could substitute for Villavicencio. So they include the name of the late candidate, who was not among the top contenders.

The frontrunner in polling was Luisa Gonzalez, a lawyer and former lawmaker whose campaign has highlighted her affiliation with the party of Correa, the former president who in 2020 was found guilty of corruption and sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. He has been living in his wife’s native Belgium since 2017.

Trailing Gonzalez, the only female presidential candidate, were millionaire Jan Topic, whose promise of heavy-handed tactics against criminals earned him the nickname “Ecuadorian Rambo" and Otto Sonnenholzner, who led part of the country’s response to the pandemic while serving as the third vice president during the administration of President Lenin Moreno.

Also running was Yaku Perez, an Indigenous man promising to defend the environment and water from mining and oil extraction.

To win outright, a candidate needs 50 percent of the votes, or at least 40 percent with a 10-point lead over the closest opponent.

If needed, a runoff election would take place on October 15. The winner will govern only for the remainder of Lasso’s unfinished term, meaning less than two years.