Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been killed, the country’s president Guillermo Lasso has said, vowing the “crime will not go unpunished”.

Local media had earlier reported Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5%, had been shot at a campaign event in Quito.

“For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,” Lasso said on Twitter.

He added that he was “outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters.”

He said his security cabinet would meet shortly.

Videos on social media purportedly from the campaign event showed people taking cover and screaming as gunfire rang out.

The killing comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and killings on the rise.

“Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law”, Lasso said, referring to the perpetrators of the crime.

“Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory,” fellow presidential hopeful Jan Topic said in response to the shooting.

Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. He was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses.

Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president.

He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru.

As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticised by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections.