Venezuelan leader rushes swearing-in

VENEZUELA’S President Nicolas Maduro moved quickly yesterday to swear in a new assembly with extraordinary powers as he faced charges that turnout figures for the body’s election were manipulated.

The firm that supplies Venezuela’s voting technology, Smartmatic, said official figures in Sunday’s election had been tampered with in such a way that the turnout appeared greater than it was.

The election of the new super-assembly, with candidates selected from the ruling party, drew international condemnation as a power grab by the unpopular Maduro, whose leftist government is beset by violent street protests and an economy on the brink of collapse.

Those fears were underscored on Tuesday when two prominent opposition leaders were hustled off to jail in the middle of the night by armed Venezuelan intelligence service members.

Maduro planned to swear in the 545 members of the so-called Constituent Assembly, including his own wife and son, at a concert arena in Caracas yesterday, his press office said.

They would then take their seats today in the formal chamber of the National Assembly – now controlled by the opposition, but whose powers will be superseded by the new body.

The opposition has called a major rally for today as well.

Venezuelan officials claim that more than 40% of the country’s 20 million voters cast ballots on Sunday.

The opposition boycotted the polls.

In London, Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica said: “Based on the robustness of our system we know, without any doubt, that the turnout of the election for a National Constituent Assembly was manipulated.

“We estimate that the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities is at least one million votes,” he said.

The British company, which has worked in Venezuela since 2004, deplored the fact that opposition parties had not provided election auditors or sent representatives to the tabulation centre when results were announced.

It noted that political parties usually received printed copies of election returns of all polling stations, to allow them to compare these printed records against results published later.

We know, without any doubt, the [election] turnout was manipulated