A candidate to become the President of Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio, has been shot dead.
He was shot and killed after appearing at a campaign rally in the capital, Quito, ahead of the presidential election, which is due to be held later this month.
Villavicencio, a former investigative journalist, was getting into a car when a man stepped forward from the crowd and shot him in the head. The assailant was shot by security guards and later died of his injuries.
While Ecuador has historically been more stable and safer than its neighbours in the region, in recent years there has been an uptick in violent crime, believed to be driven by drug cartels.
Villavicencio, a member of the country’s Parliament, had said that there were links between government officials and organised crime.
He was unlikely to have been elected, having been polling at about 10% before the incident.
A state of emergency has been called after Villavicencio’s assassination.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/asambleanacional/51734257626]