委内瑞拉否认谎报修宪会议投票人数_时事

委内瑞拉否认谎报修宪会议投票人数

"This election cannot be stained by anyone, because it was a transparent vote," Maduro said.

The opposition, which boycotted the vote, said turnout was less than four million, and that account was reinforced by journalists' reports that dozens of polling places around Caracas were almost deserted on Sunday.

The president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, said Smartmatic's findings are "complete confirmation" of what the opposition and election analysts had suspected.

Pre-election polls showed more than 70 percent of all Venezuelans opposed a body to change the constitution.

The opposition contends the vote was rigged to pack the assembly with supporters of Maduro. Maduro's opponents are demanding early presidential elections. The next scheduled election is October, 2018.

Borges said lawmakers will ask the country's top prosecutor to investigate members of the National Election Council for potential crimes.

Luisa Ortega Diaz, Venezuela's top law enforcement official and a Maduro critic, told cnn in an interview Wednesday that she has opened an investigation into the allegations of vote manipulation.

Despite the controversy surrounding voter turnout and the final results, Maduro plans to swear in the 545 members of the new "constituent assembly" so they can get to work. He originally set Thursday for the assembly's opening session, but late Wednesday announced the new body would begin its inaugural session on Friday instead, for the sake of "peace and calm."