PRESIDENT Guillermo Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency on Thursday following the assassination of a presidential candidate, but vowed to hold general elections scheduled for later this month.
“The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and the free and democratic elections of August 20,” Lasso said in an address broadcast on YouTube.
The president also declared three days of national mourning “to honor the memory of a patriot, of Fernando Villavicencio Valencia.”
Villavicencio, 59, was shot dead on Wednesday evening as he was leaving a rally in the capital Quito.
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