2023-08-21 05:00:00
Zurita, voting under escort and with a bulletproof vest HENRY ROMERO | REUTERS
Dozens of soldiers and police guard the elections
21 ago 2023 . Updated at 05:00 h.
Wearing a bulletproof vest, in the midst of a large security device made up of the military and police, and with a shield covering the moment in which he exercised his right to vote. This is how the Ecuadorian presidential candidate went to the polls yesterday Christian Zuritasubstitute for his friend, the journalist Fernando Villavicencio, shot dead on August 9 in Quito, when he was leaving a rally, after being threatened by the narco-criminal groups that operate in the country. With courage, the aspirant managed to say, while he was led by his escort, at a run, towards his armored vehicle.
Presidential elections in Ecuador, conditioned by a wave of violence
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In an early presidential election and marked by violence, was a constant in the voting centers. A total of 53,000 police and 43,000 soldiers protected voters.
With faith and hope, better days are coming for the country, he pointed out, when voting, Luisa González, candidate of the Citizen Revolution party, of former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), favorite in the polls, with between 20% and 30% of voting intentions, a support that was reduced after the assassination of Villavicencio, who had revealed corruption cases related to corruption for decades. the former president’s party A member of the Armed Forces, rifle raised, ready to shoot, also sneaked into González’s voting photo.
Ecuador confirms Zurita as substitute candidate for assassinated Fernando Villavicencio
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A likely second round
Practically all the surveys suggest that there will be a second round in Ecuador. The first position would go to González, according to the polls, but it is not clear who will accompany her in the very possible second round. Both Zurita and former vice president Otto Sonnesholzner, the indigenous Yaku Pérez — who was left at the gates of the second shift in 2021 — and the former legionary and businessman in the security sector Jan Topic, who proposes a strong hand against crime, aspire to this.
The wife of the candidate assassinated in Ecuador blames former President Rafael Correa and the State for the crime
He National Electoral Council He assured that the first hours of the vote had been calm, but the observers pointed out failures in the telematic voting system, the only way to vote for Ecuadorians residing abroad. At the close of this edition, the results were not yet known.
Filed in: Ecuador
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