BOYCOTTS, VIOLENCE MAR VOTE ON VENEZUELAN ASSEMBLY
Protests leave as many as 12 dead, opposition reports
CARACAS, VENEZUELA President Nicolás Maduro pushed ahead Sunday with the controversial vote for a powerful constitutional assembly amid protests that left a dozen people dead, according to opposition officials who led a massive boycott of the polls.
The beleaguered South American nation is electing members to the new assembly that would rewrite the country’s 1999 constitution and possibly create a single- party, authoritarian system.
Julio Borges, president of the oppositionled National Assembly, said only 7% of the electorate had voted. A midday check of 10 polling places in the capital showed most empty or nearly empty.
“Venezuela has screamed with its silence,” said Borges, who put the day’s death toll at 12. The public prosecutor’s office confirmed nine deaths.
Maduro’s vision of a new constitution to consolidate his power has drawn ire in Washington. Last week, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials, and the WhiteHouse and some congressman said stiffer sanctions could follow. Mexico said it would support U. S. sanctions, and the Organization of American States and the European Parliament have expressed support for the opposition.
Opposition leaders refused to put up candidates, arguing the election has been structured to ensure that Maduro’s ruling socialist party dominates. Thus virtually all the more than 5,000 candidates for 545 assembly seats are Maduro supporters.
The opposition vowed to protest despite a ban on public gatherings. In some parts of the capital, people took to the streets in protest, but they were repelled by security forces armed with tear gas.
Maduro has denied links to violent paramilitaries that have run roughshod across the country, blaming the opposition for violence that has left more than 100 people dead. Maduro himself voted with little fanfare early in the morning.
“We’ve stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence,” Maduro said. “Hopefully the world will extend its arms toward our country.”