A candidate campaigning against corruption and gangs in Ecuador’s upcoming presidential election has been shot dead at a campaign rally.
Fernando Villavicencio, a member of the country’s National Assembly, was attacked on Wednesday as he was leaving an event in the capital, Quito.
He is one of the few candidates who has accused Ecuador of links between organized crime and government officials.
A state of emergency has been declared after the murder.
Ecuador has historically been a relatively safe and stable country in Latin America, but a recent rise in violent crime – due to the growing presence of drug cartels – has been a central issue in this year’s presidential campaign.
Mr. Villacencio, a serving congressman and former journalist, was shot three times, witnesses said.
A member of his campaign team told local media that the 59-year-old was getting into a car when a man drove up and shot him in the head.
Video from inside the building shows horrified supporters diving for covers and campaign leaflets lying on the blood-soaked floor.
The country’s attorney general said on social media that the suspect was also shot in an exchange of gunfire with security and later succumbed to his injuries.
In the chaos, nine other people were injured, including a candidate for the country’s assembly and two police officers, prosecutors said.
He added that the police have detained six people in connection with the murder after the raids in Quito.
The first phase of the presidential election is to be held on August 20.
Mr Villavicencio, who was married with five children, was one of eight candidates in the first round of the election – although he was not the frontrunner and was polling in the middle of the pack.
Along with security, Mr Villavicencio’s campaign focused on tackling corruption, a subject he had covered in his earlier career as a journalist, and reducing environmental degradation.
Last week, he said he and his team were threatened by the ringleader of a drug-trafficking gang.
