Mayoral candidate Omar Menendez, who was killed just hours before the polls opened, won the election in the city of Puerto Lopez in Ecuador, the BBC reported.

Menendez, 41, was shot and killed by gunmen who broke into the room where he was with campaign workers.

A teenager was also killed in the attack. The assailants fled the scene on a motorcycle. Police are still investigating the possible motive behind it.

A member of Menendez's party is expected to replace the slain politician as mayor.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the murder of Omar Menendez.

The municipal elections were held against the backdrop of a rising crime wave associated with the growing influence of violent drug gangs in Ecuador.

Menendez was not the only politician killed in the run-up to the election. Two weeks earlier, Julio César Farachio, a candidate for mayor of the coastal city of Salinas, had also been shot dead.