Unknown gunmen killed presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio – running on a strong-on-crime, anti-corruption, anti-China platform – on Wednesday night before a massive crowd outside of a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador.
Villavicencio was one of eight candidates vying for the presidency of Ecuador. The election remains scheduled to take place on August 20, the result of current President Guillermo Lasso, a conservative, using a constitutional provision to dissolve the National Assembly (the federal legislature) in May and call for general elections. Lasso claimed the unprecedented measure was necessary because leftist lawmakers’ incessant attempts to impeach him had made the regular business of government impossible. Lasso is not one of the eight candidates on the ballot.
The Ecuadorian presidential race was already heavily contested; most recent polls show no clear winner. A recent poll by the firm Click Research found that more than 40 percent of Ecuadorians were undecided on their candidates and no candidate surpassed 25 percent support. Voting is mandatory for all Ecuadorian citizens over the age of 18.
Villavicencio was running a campaign heavily centered on combating organized crime, eliminating political corruption, and limiting the influence of China on the South American country.
Source: Breitbart