委内瑞拉否认谎报修宪会议投票人数

Venezuela's president and election chief on Wednesday denied a report that voter turnout numbers were "manipulated" and inflated by at least one million for the controversial election to choose an assembly to rewrite the national constitution.

The head of the National Election Council, Tibisay Lucena, said the claim by a British election-technology firm was "irresponsible," and she threatened to begin legal action against the company.

"This is an uNPRecedented opinion from a firm whose only role in the electoral process is to provide certain services and technical support that has no bearing on the results," Lucena said.

The head of British firm Smartmatic, Antonio Mugica, said in London Wednesday there is no question in his mind that the total reported vote was false. He did not, however, say whether vote tampering altered the outcome of Sunday's balloting.

"Based on the robustness of our system, we know without any doubt that the turnout of the recent election for a National Constituent Assembly was manipulated," Mugica said. "We estimate the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities was at least one million."

President Nicolas Maduro said in televised remarks that Mugica was pressured by the United States and Britain. He also repeated the government's stance that eight million people voted, adding that the turnout would have been 10 million if others had not been blocked by protesters.

"This election cannot be stained by anyone, because it was a transparent vote," Maduro said.

The opposition, which boycotted the vote, said turnout was less than four million, and that account was reinforced by journalists' reports that dozens of polling places around Caracas were almost deserted on Sunday.

The president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, said Smartmatic's findings are "complete confirmation" of what the opposition and election analysts had suspected.

Pre-election polls showed more than 70 percent of all Venezuelans opposed a body to change the constitution.

The opposition contends the vote was rigged to pack the assembly with supporters of Maduro. Maduro's opponents are demanding early presidential elections. The next scheduled election is October, 2018.

Borges said lawmakers will ask the country's top prosecutor to investigate members of the National Election Council for potential crimes.

Luisa Ortega Diaz, Venezuela's top law enforcement official and a Maduro critic, told cnn in an interview Wednesday that she has opened an investigation into the allegations of vote manipulation.

Despite the controversy surrounding voter turnout and the final results, Maduro plans to swear in the 545 members of the new "constituent assembly" so they can get to work. He originally set Thursday for the assembly's opening session, but late Wednesday announced the new body would begin its inaugural session on Friday instead, for the sake of "peace and calm."

Details on what might be included in a new constitution are unclear. Maduro has said it is the only way to pull Venezuela out of its severe economic crisis and stop the daily protests that have killed more than 120 people since April.

But the opposition says its goal is to dissolve the opposition-controlled national assembly, fire anyone who disagrees with the government, and turn Venezuela into a socialist dictatorship.

The United States, Canada, European Union, and nearly every Latin American nation have said they will not recognize the constituent assembly.

The United States imposed sanctions against Maduro on Monday for what it called his "illegitimate" election of a body to rewrite the constitution. All of Maduro's assets in the United States are frozen and Americans are forbidden from doing any business with him.

委内瑞拉总统和选举委员会负责人星期三对有关“谎报” 修宪会议投票人数，比实际投票人数至少多出100万的报道矢口否认。

委内瑞拉选举委员会负责人卢塞纳说，一家英国选举技术公司的说法“不负责任”，并威胁要对这家公司采取法律行动。

卢塞纳说：“这家公司在选举程序中唯一的任务是提供特定服务和技术支持，对选举结果没有任何影响。他们发表这种意见是前所未闻的。”

然而，Smartmatic科技公司首席执行官安东尼奥·马基卡星期三在伦敦表示，他十分肯定，委内瑞公布的投票人数不属实。不过，马基卡没有表示谎报选票是否改变了选举的结果。

马基卡说，“基于我们稳定的系统，我们知道，而且毫无疑问，最近国民修宪会议的投票人数受到了操纵篡改。我们估计实际参加投票的人数和官方宣布的相差至少1百万。”

委内瑞拉总统马杜罗在电视讲话中说，马基卡受到了来自美国和英国的压力。他再次重申政府立场，坚称有800万人参加投票，他还补充说，如果不是抗议者阻拦，本来会有1000万人投票。

马杜罗说：“任何人都无法抹黑这次选举，因为选举是透明的。”

抵制此次选举的反对派表示，实际投票人数不到400万。据媒体报道，首都加拉加斯附近星期天有数十个投票站门可罗雀，似乎也佐证了反对派的说法。

反对派控制的全国代表大会主席博尔赫斯说，这家技术公司的发现“全面证实了”反对派和选举分析人士的猜测。

选前民调显示，百分之70以上的委内瑞拉人反对召集制宪会议修改宪法。

反对派质疑投票受到操纵，以便让马杜罗的支持者占据制宪会议，马杜罗的反对者要求提前举行原定2018年10月举行的总统选举。

博尔赫斯说，全代会代表会要求委内瑞拉首席检察官对全国选举委员会成员进行调查，看他们是否有犯罪行为。

委内瑞拉最高执法官员迪亚斯也是马杜罗的批评者。她星期三接受美国有线电视资讯网采访时说，她已经针对操纵投票的指控展开了调查。

尽管投票人数和最终投票结果都存在争议，但是马杜罗总统还是计划让545名制宪会议成员宣誓就职，尽快开始工作。马杜罗原本计划让制宪会议星期四开会，但是星期三晚间宣布，为“和平和平稳”起见，制宪会议改在星期五11点开会。

新宪法中可能包括的内容明确还不清楚，但是马杜罗说，这是唯一能让委内瑞拉摆脱严重经济危机，停止每天抗议示威的途径。四月以来抗议引发的暴力冲突已造成120多人丧生。

但是反对派说，制宪会议的目的是解散反对派控制的全代会，解除所有跟政府意见不一致的人的职务，让委内瑞拉变成一个社会主义的独裁政权。

美国、加拿大、欧盟和几乎所有拉美国家都表示，不承认制宪会议的合法性。

美国星期一对马杜罗实施制裁，因为他通过“非法”选举，组建制宪会议改写宪法。马杜罗在美国的全部资产被冻结，美国人也被禁止跟马杜罗做生意。