Maduro claims vote win, opposition vows protests
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas internationally criticized election for an assembly to rewrite the constitution, but the opposition cried fraud and vowed to keep protesting despite a deadly crackdown.
Ten people were killed in a wave of bloodshed that swept Venezuela - tion boycott and international condemnation—including the threat of new US sanctions—to hold elections for a powerful new “Constituent Assembly.”
Protesters attacked polling stations and barricaded streets around the country, drawing a bloody response with live ammunition in some cases.
Despite the boycott and the unrest, the head of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena—one of 13 sanctions by US President Donald Trump’s administration— said there had been “extraordinary turnout” of more than eight million voters, 41.5 percent of the electorate.
Dressed in bright red, his fist hailed it as a win in a speech to hundreds of cheering supporters in central Caracas.
“It is the biggest vote the revolu-
Police officers react after an explosive device exploded as they rode past during a protest against the elections for a Constituent Assembly in Caracas on Sunday (Monday in Manila). tion has ever scored in its 18- year In his speech, he encouraged the history,” he said, referring to the assembly to scrap opposition law makers’ immunity from prosecution came to power.
“What the hell do we care what There was blistering international Trump says?” condemnation of the vote, led
by Washington. include his wife Cilia Flores, his pugThe constituent assembly aims nacious right-hand man Diosdado to “undermine the Venezuelan Cabello, and other staunch allies. people’s right to self- determina
The socialist president is gambling tion,” US State Department spokeshis four-year rule on the 545-member assembly, which will be empowered a statement, threatening further to dissolve the opposition-controlled “strong and swift” sanctions on congress and rewrite the constitution.
More protests loom
The election was also condemned by the European Union, Canada and Latin American powers including Argentina,
Capriles called on Venezuelans to contin with new protests against the election and the “massacre” he said accompanied it.
“We do not recognize this fraudulent process,” he said, calling for nationwide Caracas Wednesday, the day the new assembly is due to be installed.
vote, threatening prison terms of up to 10 years.
Prosecutors said 10 people were killed in violence around the vote, bringing the death toll in four months of protests to more than 120 people.
Those killed included a candidate for the new assembly, a regional opposition leader, two teenage protesters and a soldier in the western state of Tachira, which saw some of the worst violence.
In eastern Caracas, seven police were wounded when an improvised explosive targeted their motorcycle convoy.
National guard troops used armored vehicles, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters blocking roads in the capital and other cities.