<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/664/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/556/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/600/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/664/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/700/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/13/0/0/7242/4828/800/0/75/0/b54b9d3_5007989-01-06.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Journalist and Construye (" build")="" party="" presidential="" candidate="" (center)="" christian="" zurita,="" replacing="" fernando="" villavicencio,="" the="" assassinated="" on="" august="" 9,="" in="" quito,="" 13,="" 2023."="" width="100%" height="auto">
With campaign hats on their heads and banners under their arms, two Ecuadorians half-heartedly handed out election leaflets to morning joggers in the north of the Ecuadorean capital of Quito on Sunday morning, August 13. "There aren’t many people," said the young man. "People are paralyzed with fear." Four days earlier, Fernando Villavicencio, one of the candidates in the presidential election, was shot three times in the head in the middle of the street. "We’ve never seen a political crime in Ecuador," said the woman, in her late forties. Like her younger neighbor, she was there "because the job pays" and did not care which candidate appeared on the leaflets. "Voting is pointless," they explained in unison. "Politicians don’t give a damn about the people. All of them." If voting weren’t compulsory, neither of them would vote on Sunday, August 20.
The attitude of the campaign workers confirmed predictions by both analysts and polls. In this country of 18 million inhabitants, politics don't succeed in convincing people of much. More than 50% of voters were still undecided in polls published 10 days before the election (Ecuadorian law bans polls during the last 10 days before the election). "The explosion of criminal violence in our country, which has fallen prey to the drug cartels, is contributing to the discrediting of public action and elected officials," said someone who was jogging. "Murders, kidnappings and extortion have become daily occurrences. Why vote if the state can’t or won’t do anything?" The murder of Fernando Villavicencio, who criticized corrupt officials and the mafias by denouncing their connections, came as a real shock. The question of whether his death will influence the outcome of the early general elections (presidential and legislative) is on people's minds.
Ecuadorians are being called to the polls on Sunday, August 20, after the right-wing president, Guillermo Lasso, decided in May to dissolve parliament, which was threatening to impeach him. Eight candidates registered to succeed him. Even before the assassination, the presidential campaign overshadowed the issues at stake in the legislative elections. The elected president and the MPs who win the election will remain in power for only 18 months, the incumbents’ remaining term.
In the latest polls, the candidate close to former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) was the favorite to win the presidential election. That candidate, Luisa González, had more than a quarter of the intentions to vote. Four candidates – including Villavicencio – were vying for the coveted second place. The balance of power could change in the second round, with all of the "smaller" candidates from the far right to the new left joining forces to counter Correa’s candidate.
The former president, sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for corruption on the basis of information revealed by Villavicencio, now lives in Belgium but continues to influence Ecuadorian politics. He has been defending his "citizen revolution" and attacking his opponents from the right and left with his usual ferocity on social media.
At national police headquarters on Sunday, Interior Minister Juan Zapata confirmed that an FBI team had arrived in Quito to help investigators identify the masterminds behind Villavicencio’s murder. The assassin, a Colombian national, was killed instantly by the victim’s bodyguards. The six Colombian suspects who were arrested on the spot all had police records. Amid widespread speculation, the police chief said "the investigation is advancing" but gave no further details.
Correa and Villavicencio were bitter enemies. The latter, a journalist-turned-presidential candidate, called the former head of state an "escaped delinquent." Last November, Correa replied, "You are a cowardly villain. Your party is coming to an end." Staunch opponents of Correa openly accuse the former president of having ordered the crime. "Correa probably didn’t personally hire the killer," said a person close to Villavicencio, "but by publicly insulting Fernando as he did, he bears a degree of responsibility for his assassination."
"Who benefits from the crime?" asked Correa’s supporters in turn. Luisa González was expected to win before the first round of the presidential election. Supporters of the citizen’s revolution movement were even dreaming of an immediate victory because the Ecuadorian presidency can be won with 40% of the vote in the first round, if more than 10 points separate the first candidate from the second. While game-changing, Villavicencio’s assassination does not serve González’ interests.
On Sunday evening’s debate broadcast, a white lectern was shown with no one behind it. The seven candidates in attendance observed a minute’s silence in memory of Villavicencio before beginning the debate, which lasted three hours.
Villavicencio’s Construye (Build) party had announced the name of its new candidate earlier. Christian Zurita, 53, also an investigative journalist, has pledged to defend the ideas and program of his late friend. Villavicencio’s running mate, Andrea González, 36, maintains her candidacy for the vice presidency. Zurita and González held a press conference in the late afternoon during which both wore bulletproof vests. Zurita was not allowed to take part in the televised debate because he had not registered his candidacy with the electoral authorities in time. His supporters protested strongly.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.