Venezuela rocked by more poll violence

THREE PEOPLE have died in protests against a controversial vote that opposition leaders fear will trigger the end of democracy in Venezuela.

Two men died in Merida whilst a third, 30-year-old Ricardo Campos, was killed in a separate incident in Sucre.

Leaders with the opposition Democratic Action party on Twitter identified Mr Campos as the group’s youth secretary in Sucre, a state in northern Venezuela east of the nation’s capital.

The deaths bring to at least 116 those killed in nearly four months of political upheaval.

Opinion polls appear to show that more than 70 per cent of the country’s population was opposed to yesterday’s vote to select a constitutional assembly which will give the government virtually unlimited powers.

In opposition-dominated eastern Caracas, riot police used tear gas to stop protesters from gathering for a march on the capital’s main road.

At least three police were wounded when one of their motorcycles detonated in a powerful explosion.

After voting at dawn, President Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded the late Hugo Chavez, called for international acceptance of what he called his government’s fight against a violent opposition trying to sabotage his socialist administration.

Venezuelans appeared to be abstaining in massive numbers in a show of silent protest against the vote.

The run-up to the vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government that have left nearly 2,000 wounded in addition to the heavy death toll.