Quito, Ecuador —Heavily-armed security officers kept watch Sunday as Ecuadorans voted in a presidential election marked by the murder of a top candidate and despair over the lawlessness that has engulfed the once-peaceful nation.
Polls closed after a tense day, with soldiers and police searching voters at the entry to polling stations, while some of the eight presidential candidates wore helmets and bulletproof vests to cast their ballots.
The small South American country has in recent years become a staging for foreign drug mafias seeking to export cocaine, stirring up a brutal war between local gangs.
The murder of serious presidential contender Fernando Villav…
Keep on reading: ‘We are afraid’: Violence-hit Ecuador votes under heavy security
