Voting opens in Venezuela assembly election amid boycott

CARACAS, Venezuela — Polling places in Venezuela open Sunday for election of members of the National Assembly in a vote championed by President Nicolás Maduro but rejected as a fraud by the nation’s most influential opposition politicians.

Maduro seeks to pack the assembly with members of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, capturing the last government institution out of his reach. Critics say doing so will smother the last remnants of democracy in Venezuela.

An opposition coalition led by U.S.-backed politician Juan Guaidó is boycotting the vote.

This year, the Supreme Court, which is loyal to Maduro, appointed a new elections commission that includes three members who have been sanctioned by the U.S. and Canada. The commission appointments were made without the participation of the opposition-led congress, as the law requires.

The court also took over three leading opposition parties, appointing new leaders, who the opposition accuses of conspiring to support Maduro.

Guaidó’s opposition movement is holding a referendum over several days after the election. It will ask Venezuelans whether they want to end Maduro’s rule and hold new presidential elections.

It’s unclear whether either side’s vote will draw the masses, as neither Maduro nor Guaidó is popular among Venezuelans.

The International Monetary Fund projects a 25 percent decline this year in Venezuela’s GDP, while hyperinflation diminishes the value of its currency, the bolivar.

Maduro, the hand-picked successor to the late President Hugo Chávez, won a second term in 2018. But his political adversaries and several nations, including the U.S., reject his legitimacy after he banned the most popular challengers.

Guaidó, 37, vowed to oust the 58-year-old Maduro early last year after becoming head of the National

Assembly. The Trump administration led dozens of nations in support of Guaidó.

Washington hit Maduro and his political allies with sanctions, and the U.S. Justice Department has indicted Maduro as a “narcoterrorist,” offering a $15 million reward for his arrest.

On Saturday, the White House National Security Council said the election scheduled for Sunday was fraudulent.

Maduro remains in power with backing from Venezuela’s military and international support from nations like Iran, Russia, China and Cuba. Maduro’s domestic allies also control the top court, prosecutor’s office and elections commission.