Maduro says Venezuela assembly to convene Friday

Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica yesterday told a news briefing in London: 'We know, without any doubt, that the turn out of the recent election for a National Constituent Assembly was manipulated.

The British company that provided voting machines used in Venezuela's election this week said Wednesday that the balloting was "tampered with" and that the company could not endorse the results. "We estimate the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities is at least one million votes", he said. Mugica declined to directly answer whether the manipulated turnout numbers changed the result of the election, in which authorities said 8.1 million people voted.

One of the electoral council directors also said he couldn't guarantee the election's results.

Mr Maduro has called the vote, which will allow him to consolidate his rule, "a historic triumph". He adds "the United States calls all who cherish freedom to condemn the Maduro regime for its abuse of power and its abuse of its own people".

The US has imposed financial sanctions on Mr Maduro. But the Venezuelan president went on TV to insist the sanctions "don't intimidate me".

The vote, for a new constitutional assembly, came after four months of protests against Mr Maduro's government that have seen 120 people killed.

Opposition leader Freddy Guevara called for a protest march on Thursday to prevent delegates to the new assembly from occupying the halls of congress, which the opposition won a landslide victory in 2015.

Lopez's lawyer, Juan Carlos Gutierrez, denied his client violated his house-arrest regulations.

The National Constituent Assembly takes the place of the opposition-led National Assembly, and critics fear it will erode democracy.

People hold portraits of opposition leader Antonio Ledezma in front of a wall with a portrait of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez during a news conference at the Venezuelan coalition of opposition parties (MUD) headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela on August 1, 2017.

The opposition, which boycotted the vote, has dismissed the official tally of 8.1 million participants as fraudulent.

President Donald Trump sternly warned Maduro's "dictatorship" that he holds him personally responsible for the health and safety of the two men. Several global leaders and human rights groups also have criticized the new constitution as a prelude to dictatorship.

In an unofficial referendum last month, the opposition asked Venezuelans whether the military should defend the current constitution and the National Assembly - which is expected to be dissolved by the Constitutional Assembly - in an apparent attempt to exert public pressure on the armed forces.

According to the government, 8m Venezuelans voted for the assembly, a supra-legislative body that will have the power to suspend other institutions - including the democratically elected and opposition-dominated parliament. Gasoline, medicine and such basic staples as cooking oil, flour and sugar are scarce, and many Venezuelans cross into neighboring Colombia and Brazil to buy food.

This week, the United States announced it was levying sanctions on Maduro by freezing any USA assets he has, a measure imposed on 13 other members of his government last week.