ECUADOR-Third Senior Political Figure Assassinated In Run Up To Election

The spate of political violence in Ecuador continued on 14 August, with a senior figure in the left-wing Citizen Revolution Movement (Revolución Ciudadana, RC) of presidential frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez killed in the northern province of Esmeraldas. Details surrounding the killing of local RC leader Pedro Briones have not been made available, but two recent political assassinations - of Agustín Intriago, the mayor of Ecuador's third largest city Manta, and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio - have been linked to the proliferation of drug cartels within Ecuador.

• The first round of the presidential election takes place on 20 August, and the violence that has swept the country in recent years is undoubtedly the top issue in voters' minds. Gonzalez has promised a hard line on crime and corruption but it remains to be seen whether voters will shift their support back to the party of former left-wing President Rafael Correa, given the correístas and Villavicencio often launched scathing political attacks on one another.
• Votes instead could go to right leaning candidates. Former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner has the political experience, but could be hindered by his association with unpopular outgoing President Guillermo Lasso.
• Political outsider Jan Topic has run on a hard-line security platform and could make the second round against Gonzalez. According to Spain's El Pais, Topic has a resume that "...boasts a multi-million-dollar technology and security company, and he also served as a soldier in the French Foreign Legion, where he was a sniper and paratrooper who served in Ukraine, Syria and Africa,"