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Maduro Wins Election, Opposition Vows Protests

Maduro Wins Election, Opposition Vows Protests
folder_openLatin America access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced victory Monday in an election to pick a new assembly to rewrite the constitution, but the opposition vowed to keep protesting despite deadly clashes.


Maduro Wins Election, Opposition Vows Protests

Despite the boycott and the unrest, the head of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena -- one of 13 Maduro allies already hit by US sanctions -- said there had been "extraordinary turnout" of more than eight million voters, 41.5 percent of the electorate.

In a speech to supporters in central Caracas, Maduro hailed it as a win.

"We have a Constituent Assembly," he said.

"It is the biggest vote the revolution has ever scored in its 18-year history," he said, referring to the year his late mentor, Hugo Chavez, came to power.

The socialist president is gambling his four-year rule on the 545-member assembly, which will be empowered to dissolve the opposition-controlled congress and rewrite the constitution.

Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles called on Venezuelans to continue defying the deeply unpopular Maduro with new protests against the election and the "massacre" he said accompanied it.

"We do not recognize this fraudulent process," he said, calling for nationwide marches Monday and a mass protest in Caracas Wednesday, the day the new assembly is due to be in.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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