2023-08-11 04:01:18
The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist and former assemblyman who offered his eventual government a strong hand against crime, drug trafficking and corruption, left a wave of questions on the Ecuadorian political scene ahead of the August 20 elections. Villavicencio’s crime is added to that of other politicians in recent months such as the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, and the candidate for assembly for Esmeraldas, Rider Sánchez, and is yet another example of the exponential growth of violence in the Latin American country.
Some of Villavicencio’s presidential rivals, assassinated this Wednesday in Quito, announced the suspension of their respective campaigns and called for unity in the face of the insecurity crisis that the country is going through. For Pablo Iturralde, leader of the National Citizens’ Assembly (ANC), the electoral process should not be suspended but rather “we must denounce the government’s maneuvers to do so and extend its mandate in an unconstitutional and dictatorial manner.”
The impact on the elections
Simón Pachano, a professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), maintained that “most people received this with astonishment” and that, despite the wave of violence in the country, “it had never been so far “. For Pachano, the crime against Villavicencio, who was running second in the presidential polls, could cause notable changes in the elections.
“It may affect the correísta candidate (Luisa Gonzalez) due to the confrontation that Villavicencio had with them and opens a question about the second place. It would not be strange if her name occupies that place since it cannot be eliminated from the ballot and there will be many people that they vote for him as a form of rejection and condolences,” Pachano said in dialogue with Página/12.
Shortly after the assassination was confirmed, the candidates Yaku Pérez and Jan Topic publicly announced the temporary suspension of their campaigns. Pérez, who came third in the 2021 elections at the hands of the Pachakutik indigenous movement, invited his rivals “to leave all political flags and make a social pact for security.” Otto Sonnenholzner, also a candidate and businessman, referred to the thousands of murders that have occurred in the country in recent months and called for action from the right-wing government of Guillermo Lasso, who last May dissolved the National Assembly, forcing it to call extraordinary general elections.
In a message to the nation, Lasso said that “the State is firm and democracy does not give in to the brutality of this murder” and stressed: “We are not going to hand over power and democratic institutions to organized crime, even if it is disguised as political organizations”. Luisa Gonzalez quickly responded: “Ecuador will return to peace when you leave, on August 20 we will begin to raise up your beloved homeland.”
Former President Rafael Correa warned on his Twitter account that Ecuador had become a “failed state” and expressed that “those who intend to sow even more hatred with this new tragedy, I hope they understand that it only continues to destroy us.” Villavicencio was one of the biggest detractors of the Correa government and denounced several cases of alleged corruption in different governments. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail for insults against the former president, but avoided jail after being a fugitive until the statute of limitations expired.
Pablo Iturralde remarked that the large private media present the murder of Villavicencio “highlighting the complaints and confrontations against correísmo, helping to generate framing (political framing) and inducing people to hold the Citizen Revolution responsible for these events, which has already provoked verbal and physical attacks against correismo militants”. For the member of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, the winners and losers of this situation are clear.
“First of all, at the electoral level, the businessman and economist Jan) Topic and the candidates from the Villavicencio lists win, where one of the main candidates is Patricio Carrillo, who could even be the new presidential candidate. Lasso also wins, because the attention and pressure of the citizens is diverted from his terrible government management, and because in the meeting on Wednesday night in Carondelet he has proposed suspending the elections and extending itself over time as an undemocratic government, backed by the police and the military “, Iturralde told this newspaper, adding that, beyond the candidates, “the mafia right wing that is in various parties and behind various candidates wins, since if Luisa González’s triumph is prevented, they will continue to govern badly the equator”.
What will happen to Villavicencio’s candidacy?
Beyond the electoral forecasts, who will replace Villavicencio as a candidate has yet to be resolved. Article 112 of the Ecuadorian Code of Democracy establishes that “in the event of the death of a candidate, the political organization or alliance that sponsors that candidacy has the right to request the registration of a new candidacy,” which must belong to the same party. Whoever was replaced will not be able to participate in the presidential debate scheduled for this Sunday, because the National Electoral Council (CNE) does not have enough time to analyze their registration.
If the replacement is not registered until before the election day of August 20, the votes assigned by the electorate to the Villavicencio-González binomial would not be valid. The Democracy Code, an organic law that governs the electoral system, also states that if the death of the candidate occurs after the printing of the ballots, they cannot be modified.
The newspaper El Universo revealed that a sector of the bases of the group asks that the candidacy be assumed by Patricio Carrillo, who heads the national list of assembly members, while another was inclined towards Villavicencio’s running mate, Andrea González. However, none of them could replace him since they are qualified for specific candidacies (assembly member and vice president respectively) and the electoral norm mentions that, once registered, the candidacies are irrevocable.
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