President Guillermo Lasso said Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed Wednesday, promising the murder would go unpunished.
Local media earlier reported that former parliamentarian Villavicencio, who voted with 7.5% willingness to vote, was shot at an election rally in Quito. "Because of his memory and his struggles, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Russo said on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
"Organized crime has become so sophisticated that the full burden of the law falls on them." Lasso said he would invite senior security officials to an emergency meeting. Videos on social media purporting to be from an election rally showed people crouching and screaming as gunfire rang out.
Villavicencio, who hails from the Chimborazo province in the Andes Mountains, is a former member of the state oil company Petro Ecuador and later a journalist, accused of allegedly losing millions of dollars in oil contracts.
He filed a report on the oil trade with the attorney general's office on Tuesday, but no further details of the report have been released. Villavicencio was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation for his outspoken criticism of former President Rafael Correa.
He fled to the indigenous areas of Ecuador and was later granted asylum in Peru. As an MP, Villavicencio was criticized earlier this year by opposition politicians for obstructing the impeachment process against Mr Lasso, prompting him to hold a snap general election.
Today, more than ever, the need to fight crime is reaffirmed. May God bless him," said fellow presidential candidate Jan Topic in a post on X. The country has faced a series of political crises in recent years.
Authorities said at least nine people, including officials and parliamentary candidates, were injured in Wednesday's shooting, which they described as a "terrorist attack." The killing provoked protests from other candidates and called for action.
"If they touch one of us, they touch all of us," said Citizen Revolutionary Party presidential candidate Luisa González. Villavicencio is married and has five children.
Source: Euronews