CARACAS - Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz late Thursday filed an emergency application in a Caracas court to prevent the country's newly elected Constituent Assembly from sitting. Smartmatic, the London-based firm that runs the country's voting systems, said Wednesday that the government had manipulated turnout figures. Officially tasked with rewriting the country's constitution, the 545-member Constitutional Assembly will also have the power to dissolve the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Stacked with Maduro supporters, it was due to hold its first sitting in the National Assembly in Caracas on Friday, becoming a quasi parallel parliament. The new assembly will also have the power to strip National Assembly members of their immunity from prosecution.

Source: The China Post August 04, 2017 06:00 UTC