Council president Tibisay Lucena announced just before midnight that turnout in Sunday’s vote was 41.53 percent, or 8,089,320 people. The count was met with mockery and anger from members of the opposition, who said they believed between 2 million and 3 million people voted. The new assembly would concentrate near-total power in the hands of socialist President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters. Organizers with Venezuela’s opposition say 15 people were killed across the nation Sunday while the vote was underway. Organizers with Venezuela’s opposition say they stationed observers at every polling site and the preliminary results show Sunday had a small fraction of the turnout seen in previous elections voted.

Source: Washington Post July 31, 2017 01:06 UTC