Quito.- The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador notified political organizations on Monday about the decision of the “Construye” movement to appoint journalist Christian Zurita to replace presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, assassinated last Wednesday by alleged Colombian hitmen.
In a statement, the CNE indicated that, in compliance with article 101 of the Democracy Code, it notified Zurita’s pre-registration on Sunday.
In accordance with electoral regulations, political organizations may present objections within two days.
Subsequently, the respective qualification report and compliance with requirements will be prepared, recommending or not its qualification to the Plenary of the CNE.
“After that phase, political subjects can enter administrative and jurisdictional appeals against the resolution of the Plenary of the CNE,” the letter said.
Candidacies are considered officially registered only after certification by the Electoral Contentious Tribunal (TCE) that there are no pending appeals to be resolved, the CNE stressed.
DEBATE WITHOUT A “BUILD” CANDIDATE
Zurita accused the CNE of “continuing” the work that the hitmen did to “silence” his colleague by not being able to be present at the debate held on Sunday.
“After watching the presidential debate, I came to the conclusion that the CNE continued the task of the hit men: silencing Fernando Villavicencio,” said Zurita, whose registration to replace the assassinated candidate was presented a few minutes before the debate began.
Zurita could not be at the lectern for the debate because his candidacy still had to be validated by the electoral authorities.
The candidacy of Zurita, who worked together with Villavicencio in various journalistic investigations into cases of alleged corruption, was announced on Sunday morning, after Andrea González Náder, who is running for vice president, could not assume the presidential candidacy due to legal impediment.
The other seven registered candidates participated in the debate with the intention of succeeding the current president, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, in the extraordinary elections called for this Sunday, August 20.
KILLED AFTER RECEIVING THREATS
Villavicencio was assassinated last Wednesday by alleged Colombian hitmen who shot him when he got into his vehicle, after participating in a rally for his electoral campaign at a school in Quito.
A few days before, he had denounced death threats allegedly from “Fito”, identified by the authorities as the leader of Los Choneros, one of the main criminal gangs operating in Ecuador.
The candidate of the Construye movement had been very emphatic in the electoral campaign in combating corruption and drug trafficking mafias, to which the Government attributes the wave of insecurity in which Ecuador is immersed and which has already taken the lives of other politicians .
The winners of these elections will complete the 2021-2025 period, interrupted by Lasso’s invocation last May of the constitutional mechanism of “cross death”, with which he dissolved the National Assembly (Parliament), with an opposition majority, in the moment he was preparing to vote on his removal.
