Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is going ahead with the inauguration of a powerful new assembly, albeit with a 24-hour delay, even though the British firm hired to handle the vote said the turnout figure given by his government was too high.
Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega, one of Maduro’s most outspoken critics, said she has opened an investigation into what she called scandalous electoral fraud.
Although the swearing-in has been put off to today, the opposition planned to go ahead with a big march yesterday against the new assembly.
Photo: AFP//PRESIDENCY
Maduro denied the accusations of trampling on democracy in Venezuela with Sunday’s controversial election for an all-powerful “Constituent Assembly,” dismissing them as a “reaction by the international enemy.”
The technology firm hired to handle the vote, Smartmatic, said in a London news conference that the official figures from the election were “tampered with” to make turnout appear greater than it was.
Ortega said the company’s assessment was just “one more element of the fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional process” initiated by the socialist ruler.
“We are facing an unprecedented, serious incident that represents a crime,” Ortega told CNN.
The electoral authority — criticized as a Maduro mouthpiece — denied the vote-tampering allegation as “an irresponsible contention based on estimates with no grounding in the data.”
The new 545-member body — whose members include Maduro’s wife and son — will have sweeping powers to dissolve the opposition-majority congress, pass laws and write a new constitution.
Despite months of violent protests and international condemnation, Maduro insists it is the solution to a drawn-out economic and political crisis gripping Venezuela.
The assembly was originally due to start work yesterday, but Maduro postponed the launch to today in the face of opposition plans for massive protests.
“It has been proposed that the installation of the National Constituent Assembly, instead of being held tomorrow, be organized in peace and calm, with all necessary protocol, on Friday at 11am,” he said.
He said the reason for the delay was that 35 newly elected members had not yet been officially declared by electoral authorities.
Venezuela has been rocked by four months of clashes at anti-Maduro protests that have left more than 125 people dead.
Sunday’s vote brought the crisis to a boiling point, drawing international condemnation.
The US imposed direct sanctions on Maduro, calling him a “dictator,” while the EU joined the US, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina in saying it would not recognize the new assembly.
Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica said the evidence of vote-tampering was glaring.
“Based on the robustness of our system, we know, without any doubt, that the turnout ... was manipulated,” he said.
“We estimate the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities is at least 1 million votes,” he said.
Venezuela’s pro-government electoral authority had claimed more than 8 million voters took part — 40 percent of the electorate.
The opposition says turnout was closer to 3.5 million, mostly state employees fearful for their jobs.
Significantly, the opposition had held an unofficial referendum on July 16 in which it said 7.6 million Venezuelans voted against the new assembly — just under the level of support the government claimed on Sunday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese