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venezuela assembly elections

According to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), the turnout in the controversial election for a constituent assembly was 41.5%, a figure disputed by the opposition.

The opposition coalition said 88% of voters abstained and it refused to recognize the election. It also called for more protests on July 31.

July 30 election was marred by violence, with widespread protests and at least 10 people killed.

President Nicolás Maduro hailed the poll as a “vote for the revolution”.

Venezuelans were asked to choose the more than 500 representatives who will make up a constituent assembly.

The constituent assembly was convened by Nicolas Maduro to rewrite the existing constitution, which was drafted and passed in 1999 when his mentor, President Hugo Chávez, was in office.

On July 31, the head of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, announced that there had been an “extraordinary turnout” of more than eight million voters.

She also announced that President Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, was among those elected as representatives, as well as the president’s close allies Diosdado Cabello, Iris Varela and Delcy Rodríguez.

Image source Wikipedia

The announcement was met with outrage and derision by the opposition, who boycotted the vote.

Opposition politician Henry Ramos Allup said their figures suggested fewer than 2.5 million Venezuelans had turned out to vote.

With the opposition boycotting the election from the start and not fielding any candidates, it was always less about who would be elected and more about how many Venezuelans would take part in the voting.

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The opposition held an unofficial referendum two weeks before the election asking Venezuelans whether they wanted a constituent assembly at all. According to opposition figures, more than seven million Venezuelans rejected the constituent assembly in that vote.

The opposition urged Venezuelans to stay at home and even some Chavistas (supporters of the socialist movement created by President Hugo Chávez and of which Nicolas Maduro is a part) said they objected to the constituent assembly and would not vote.

There were widespread reports of public sector workers being told by their bosses to go and vote or face being sacked.

How many people turned out was therefore seen as a key indicator of support for the government.

The opposition claims that the figures are unverifiable because a number of procedures which have been in place at previous elections were not followed.

For example, voters’ little fingers were not marked with indelible ink to prevent them from trying to vote multiple times.

There were also no independent observers.

However, Tibisay Lucena said voting had proceeded “normally” and that violent outbreaks at a small number of polling stations had been controlled.

Nicolas Maduro convened the constituent assembly on 1 May amid fierce anti-government protests.

The president argued the constituent assembly would promote “reconciliation and peace”, however he did not give details of exactly how rewriting the constitution would achieve such broad aims.

Government critics fear that President Maduro wants to use the constituent assembly to maximize his power and cling on to it for longer.

As the constituent assembly will be drawing up a new constitution it has the potential to fundamentally change how Venezuela is run.

The last time a constituent assembly met in 1999, the legislature was suspended while the constitution was debated.

The opposition has called for fresh protests on July 31.

On July 30, at least 10 people were killed in protests across the country, prompting opposition leader Henrique Capriles to speak of a “massacre”.

Despite a government ban on protests and the threat of jail terms of up to 10 years for anyone disrupting the electoral process, streets were barricaded and a number of polling stations attacked ahead of the vote.

Tensions are likely to increase further on July 31 and ahead of the swearing-in of the constituent assembly members on August 2.

A candidate in Venezuela’s assembly elections and an opposition activist have been killed on July 30.

The killings took place before voting started to elect a new assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution.

The opposition says it is a power grab by President Nicolás Maduro and is boycotting the vote.

Venezeula’s government says the constituent assembly is the only way to bring peace back to the country after months of violent protests.

José Felix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer running in the election, was shot in his home on the night before the election day, a senior Venezuelan minister said.

Ricardo Campos, a youth secretary with the opposition Acción Democrática party, was shot dead during a protest, the head of the national assembly said.

A soldier in the National Guard was also killed in protests in the western town of La Grita, officials and media reports said.

Image source Wikipedia

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The El Nacional newspaper said 13 people had been killed across Venezuela in the past 24 hours.

Protests have continued in defiance of a ban on them taking place. An explosion near one demonstration in Caracas injured several police officers and set a number of their motorbikes on fire.

The security forces have used armored vehicles to dispel protesters in the Caracas district of El Paraíso amid the sound of gunfire, AFP says, citing local reports.

President Maduro cast his own ballot shortly after polling stations opened at 06:00.

In a TV speech, the president predicted a “big victory”, calling the vote “the most important election held in Venezuela’s political system”.

However, electoral council chief Tibisay Lucena acknowledged that some voting machines had been attacked and burned in parts of Venezuela.

Four months of protests against President Maduro and his plans for the assembly have left more than 100 people dead.

The election has been heavily criticized by other Latin American countries as well as the EU and the US, which last week imposed new sanctions on members of President Maduro’s government.

Venezuela, a major oil producer, is gripped by a political crisis, with soaring inflation and daily food shortages.

Many residents in Caracas were stocking up on essential items on July 29 in case unrest left shops closed into July 31, correspondents said.