The government took strong precautions to control Sunday’s vote. It outlawed protests in the days before and after, vowing tough sentences for those who disobeyed. And it barred many news outlets, including The New York Times, from entering polling stations to interview voters.
Some of those interviewed outside, where lines were short or nonexistent, said they hoped the government would use the new powers of the constituent assembly to crush the opposition, whose con
“The constituent assembly will be the power,” said Javier Granadillo, a 46-year-old mechanic who voted in Caracas and blamed the opposition for the country’s current crisis. “If any part of the government doesn’t do its job, they will be dissolved.”
However, some polls leading up to Sunday’s voting showed that large majorities of Venezuelans did not think their country needed a new Constitution.
This month, Venezuelans issued a stinging rebuke to Mr. Maduro by turning out in droves during a symbolic vote held by the opposition. More than seven million votes were cast, opposition leaders said, with 98 percent against rewriting the Constitution.
Election officials said on Sunday night that eight million people cast ballots, which would represent more than 40 percent of eligible voters. But lines observed by reporters throughout the country on Sunday cast doubt on the figure. An independent estimate by the investment bank Torino Capital, based on a poll of voting centers, estimated that between 3.1 million and four million voters cast ballots
Venezuelan Officials Reported False Tally in Vote, Firm Says
Smartmatic said in its statement that it had provided voting services for the Venezuelan government since 2004.
“Even in moments of deep political conflict and division we have been satisfied that the voting process and the count has been completely accurate,” the company said. “It is, therefore, with the deepest regret that we have to report that the turnout figures on Sunday, 30 July, for the Constituent Assembly in Venezuela were tampered with.”
Venezuela’s opposition sidestepped the criticism by Smartmatic that it had not participated in the vote or the monitoring of it. Instead, the opposition focused on the government, saying the company’s findings confirmed that the vote had been a fraud.
“What had been said at the top of our lungs everywhere today has total confirmation,” said Julio Borges, the head of the opposition-led National Assembly, calling for a criminal investigation.
Vicente Bello, the opposition’s spokesman on voting issues, said the government had allowed many avenues for voter fraud. Voters were not asked to give proper identification, as in previous elections, and the government allowed people to cast ballots in any of three different locations, he said.
“The same person could vote three times or more,” he said.
Jennifer McCoy, a political scientist and former director of the Americas program of the Carter Center, an election monitoring group, said that while the government had faced criticism for using state money to appeal to voters during elections in the past, it had never been accused by a voting systems company of directly tampering with the result.
Ms. McCoy said it remained unclear from Smartmatic’s assertions whether people had voted multiple times or whether officials had rigged the final tally. Regardless, she said, the government could easily let the public know.
