The Venezuelan National Electoral Council is claiming that more than eight million voted to grant President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist Party unlimited powers with a constitutional assembly, an assertion that's causing an uproar from Venezuelans who believe the vote was a sham.
The eight million estimate that was touted by council president Tibisay Lucena on the night of Sunday's vote was double that of early estimates by the government's political opponents, as well as independent experts. Since being announced, the "eight million" claim has been fiercely disputed by opposition members, who believe only two to three million showed up for the vote.
The Independent reported that a one well-respected independent analysis found the actual number of votes came in around 3.6 million.
Maduro has been celebrating his latest victory and is expected to give the ruling Socialist Party immense powers which would allow them to create a new congress, dissolve the current opposition-run congress and make new rules on prosecuting opposition members, according to a report by Reuters.
Since the election, opposition leaders have come out in protest of the vote, claiming it was a fraud.
"The constitutional assembly will not resolve any of the country's problems, it just means more crisis," said opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Sunday. Other South American countries stood alongside the U.S., Canada, and Spain in condemning the vote.
The EU also opposed the vote, claiming the constituent assembly would not be the optimal solution to the country's mounting issues, stating that the election took place under doubtful and often violent circumstances.
Maduro's right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello, seemed to hint that the new assembly would hold sessions in the legislative palace that the socialists were kicked out of during a 2015 landslide victory of the opposition.
"They kick us out the door we come back through the window," he said during a local news conference. "We never surrender. We insist and insist until we win. Today we feel victorious."
The opposition continues to dispute the vote and cite an unofficial referendum over Maduro's strategy, which claimed more than 7 million Venezuelans pledged to reject his constituent assembly. Violent conflicts have erupted in the aftermath of the controversial vote, and the ever-climbing death toll has hit 125 since the unrest began escalating in April.
It seems as if this vote will only embolden the opposition and increase the levels of unrest and conflict within the struggling nation.
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