01 August,2017 10:20 AM IST | Caracas | Agencies
Despite nationwide violent clashes, electoral officials in Venezuela announced that the turnout in the controversial constitutional assembly, called by President Nicolas Maduro, was 41.5 per cent, the media reported on Monday
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro celebrates the results. Pic/AFP
Despite nationwide violent clashes, electoral officials in Venezuela announced that the turnout in the controversial constitutional assembly, called by President Nicolas Maduro, was 41.5 per cent, the media reported on Monday.
However, the figure was disputed by the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), reports the BBC. According to the MUD, 88 per cent of the voters abstained and refused to recognise the election, which it says will turn the country into a dictatorship.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), just over eight million people went to the polls on Sunday to vote for the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), a body that President Maduro created to rewrite the nation's constitution.
Maduro hailed the election and warned of measures against Parliament, the public prosecutor's office, opposition leaders and the private media in his first televised speech after the vote He said the new ANC would take power in the coming hours and would remove parliamentary immunity from "those who need it to be lifted". The President promised that the ANC would counter the "parasitic bourgeoisie" and solve the economic crisis and political stalemate, which has racked the country, as well as take over the judiciary. The opposition has called for more protests on Monday. It has refused to recognise the vote.
