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The Latest: Venezuela's leader casts unusual early vote
Published September 26, 2017
The Latest on Venezuela's political crisis and the vote for a constitutional assembly (all times local):
7 a.m.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is asking for global acceptance as he casts an unusual pre-dawn vote for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that his opponents fear he'll use to replace the country's democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.
Accompanied by close advisers and state media, Maduro voted at 6:05 a.m. local time, far earlier and less publicly than in previous elections. The run-up to Sunday's vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government, including the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old nurse by men accused of being pro-government paramilitaries during a protest this month at a church a few hundred feet from the school where Maduro voted.
"We've stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence," Maduro said. "Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country."
https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-latest-venezuelas-leader-casts-unusual-early-vote