he legitimacy of Sunday’s election to overhaul Venezuela’s constitution was under threat as many voters avoided the ballot box, nations across the region rejected the predetermined result and the nation’s streets saw their deadliest day of civil unrest in three months.
President Nicolás Maduro had ordered a rewriting of Venezuela’s constitution. The election Sunday was simply to pick the members of the constituent assembly that will carry it out; there was no option to reject the process.
Nearly all candidates were politicians close to Maduro, presumably assuring that the outcome would leave his leftist movement with complete control of the country once the assembly takes charge.
“I said rain, thunder or lightning, the 30th of July was going to come,” the president said in a video made from his vehicle after he cast his ballot. He said the vote would soon bring peace to a country where more than 110 people have died in unrest during protests this year against his rule.
But the powers of the new assembly members will be so vast that they could remove Maduro from office, some analysts noted, ending a deeply unpopular presidency.
As the day rolled on, many countries rejected the result, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Peru.
Nikki R. Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the vote a “sham election” that would lead to a dictatorship as the United States threatened sanctions against Venezuela’s economy.
One candidate for the constituent assembly, José Félix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer, was killed in his home the night before the vote. Prosecutors said an armed group had broken into Pineda’s home in Ciudad Bolívar on Saturday night and shot him dead.
At least 10 people were killed in clashes between police and protesters, the government said, including two boys, ages 13 and 17, who were shot in the western state of Táchira. A police officer was shot in front of a school in Táchira, and a 43-year-old man was killed in the central city of Barquisimeto in Lara state when a bullet pierced his head, according to the state prosecutor’s office.
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Opposition leaders had called for a boycott of the vote, declaring it rigged for the ruling party, and by late afternoon they were declaring the low turnout a resounding victory.
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