QUITO.- At least 430 people have been detained since last Friday in Ecuador, whose population went to the polls this Sunday to elect their new president of the Republic, 137 legislators from the National Assembly (Parliament) and to define in two environmental plebiscites.
The General Commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, commented to the Radio Pichincha station that “since Friday” there have been “430 detainees for different crimes, 23 of them for being intoxicated when the so-called dry law was in force, which prohibits consumption and sale of liquor.
He indicated that in the last three days the Police have arrested 62 people for “micro-trafficking” of drugs and 13 for doing political proselytizing, despite the fact that this activity has been prohibited since last Thursday at midnight, since when a period of reflection began so that voters define their vote without the noise of the campaign.
Salinas added that 238 court summonses have also been filed since Friday, 225 of them for consumption and sale of liquor, but he assured that despite these cases, “serious or critical incidents” have not been reported during the voting.
Those of this Sunday have been “elections in peace and with a wide concurrence of citizens” to the electoral precincts throughout the country, the police chief stressed in a report at half-day of voting.
Likewise, the police commander highlighted the attitude of the citizens to comply with the recommendations presented to the voters, especially that of going to vote without backpacks or large handbags, for security reasons, although those who have done so have been registered by the agents.
He also stressed that patrols are being maintained at polling stations throughout the country and specified that three alerts about the presence of suspicious packages in electoral precincts have been completely ruled out, after the agents proceeded with the case protocols.
More than 100,000 police and military personnel, along with other public servants, have been deployed throughout the Ecuadorian territory to ensure security during election day.
Voting in Ecuador takes place under a state of emergency decreed by the Government after the assassination on August 9 of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, riddled with bullets as he left an electoral rally in Quito.
