Venezuelans come to Metairie for global protest vote on home country politics

The vote is not legally binding and President Maduro says he will not recognize the results, which are expected to be announced later on Monday.

Some have said that the “popular consultation” is illegitimate, as it lacked the backing of the state – which, instead, held its own “practice vote” for the constituent assembly that is scheduled for 30 July.

President Nicolas Maduro hopes to rewrite the constitution and replace the opposition-led National Assembly with a “constituent assembly” that would act as a rubber stamp for his agenda and he’s called for an official vote on July 30. “I think it’s going to embolden the worldwide community to reject it”.

In Catia, a low-income area near Caracas that had traditionally been a Chavista stronghold, armed government supporters reportedly burst into a crowd that was standing in line to vote. “Today we’re following his legacy, with President Nicolas Maduro. We carried out a democratic quake to break down walls and achieve a change”, Julio Borges, the leader of the National Assembly, said in a statement Monday. According to reports, three men on motorcycles opened fire on voters waiting in the queue, killing 60-year-old nurse Xiomara Soledad Scott, and injuring three others.

The President of the Central University of Venezuela, Cecilia García Arocha, said 6,492,381 people voted within the country and another 693,789 at polling stations overseas.

Maduro has positioned his proposed constitutional rewrite as a solution to this continuing unrest, calling Sunday’s vote “a meaningless internal exercise”.

“I am here because we do not have a democratic Venezuela, we do not have a supreme court that listens to the needs of its people”. “There’s no separation of powers, no freedom of expression”.

“And even if it is generating discomfort internally, including among the security apparatus, most groups within the ruling coalition seem willing to see if Maduro can in fact get away with it, given the fact that exit costs remain very high”.

The strike call, issued on Monday, was part of what the opposition called a “final offensive” aimed at forcing Maduro out through early elections before his term ends in 2019.

In response to another question, voters urged the military to defend the current constitution.

The enormous turnout of mostly government opponents was truly remarkable under the circumstances, however. The petroleum-rich nation has been hit hard by falling world oil prices.

They made clear the administration was moving cautiously, mindful that if such an unprecedented step was taken, it could deepen the country’s economic and social crisis, in which millions suffer food shortages and soaring inflation.

Violence during opposition protests over the past few months has left at least 93 people dead and 1,500 injured.