Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Despite the Efforts of the Opposition, Over 8 Million People Voted for the Constituent Assembly in Venezuela
Resumen Latinoamericano
01 Aug 2017
venezuela vote
Venezuelan voters

The government of President Nicolás Maduro claims more than 41 percent of registered voters went to the polls to elect candidates for a National Constituent Assembly that will rewrite Venezuela’s Constitution. The right-wing opposition attempted to disrupt the process. “Polls were open until 10pm to allow everyone to vote, because many government supporters had been prevented to vote in their designated centers by the opposition.”

Despite the Efforts of the Opposition, Over 8 Million People Voted for the Constituent Assembly in Venezuela

by Resumen Latinoamericano

This article previously appeared in The Dawn News.

“The massive turnout gives the Constituent Assembly ‘the strength of legitimacy.’”

The President of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, announced the election results. 41,53% of the people registered to vote attended the polls to cast their vote on the National Constituent Assembly promoted by the legitimate President Nicolás Maduro.

Around 8 million 89 thousand 230 Venezuelans said Yes to the Constituent, Yes to the Bolivarian Revolution.

“We all won, within the democratic framework,” said the President of the National Electoral Council. “We congratulate the people of Venezuela for this wonderful participation”.

She explained that the polls were open until 10pm to allow everyone to vote, because many government supporters had been prevented to vote in their designated centers by the opposition. Nevertheless, Lucena noted that the Venezuelan people were patient and voted in peace.

“This unusual, extraordinary, unique and unexpected vote is a victory of peace,” she added.

Nicolás Maduro said: “This is the biggest election held by the Revolution in all of its history. He who has eyes can see it, he who has ears can hear it!”

He highlighted that the massive turnout gives the Constituent Assembly “the strength of legitimacy.” This allows the government to legally carry on with the process to pass a new Constitution.

The Opposition Rejected Dialogue

Maduro also spoke about the Venezuelan opposition, which had made calls to violence and carried out attacks and anti-democratic actions in 200 voting centers around the country.

Maduro revealed that a Government delegation had been meeting opposition leaders for several weeks, including the President of the Parliament, Julio Borges, to try to get them on board with the Constituent process.

“Two weeks ago I offered them to participate as candidates in the Constituent process. But they refused”, he said.

Twenty-one government officials were injured by firearms, a voting school in the Pascua Valley was attacked with two grenades, and a sub-sergeant of the National Bolivarian Guard was killed.

Venezulea

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Vijay Prashad
    Unilateral and Illegal Sanctions – Mainly by the United States – Kill Half a Million Civilians Per Year: The Thirty-First Newsletter (2025)
    06 Aug 2025
    A study in The Lancet estimates that unilateral sanctions have caused as much death as wars, with an estimated half a million deaths per year.
  • Pindiga Ambedkar , Arnold August
    Were Canadian Elections Existential in the Context of US-Canada Tensions? (Part 2)
    06 Aug 2025
    Interview with Arnold August, writer, political commentator, and analyst of the North American continent, on the political situation in Canada and its relationship to the US.
  • Khaled Barakat
    Saudi Arabia and France are Leading a ‘Political Genocide’
    06 Aug 2025
    The New York Declaration doesn't merely betray Palestine. It weaponizes the language of statehood to formalize the suppression of a people's right to exist without colonial rule.
  • Nicholas Mwangi
    Youth-led anti-corruption movement surges in The Gambia
    06 Aug 2025
    Gambians from all walks of life – led by the youth-driven GALA movement mobilized across the country on July 23 in an anti-corruption protest as momentum for change grows.
  • Isabel Lourenço
    The Only Fair Negotiation Between Morocco and the Polisario: When, Not If, to End the Occupation
    06 Aug 2025
    Morocco's colonial project in Western Sahara has persisted not through legitimacy, but through the complicity of other nations and United Nations inaction.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us