Taking to Twitter on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that the vote was "an attempt [by Maduro] to steal Venezuela's democratic future," a position which was echoed by the United Kingdom and the European Union. European authorities turned down an invitation to send an observer mission in September.
In a statement released Monday, the UK government justified its rejection of the election on the grounds that it "did not meet the requirements of Venezuelan law," even though it was a constitutional requirement that the elections be held this year. London also took the opportunity to double down on its support for opposition leader Juan Guaido's self-proclaimed position as "interim president."
Guaido, who called on his supporters to boycott Sunday's vote, similarly announced that he will not recognise the new assembly and plans to continue his "functions" and "constitutional mandate" beyond January 5, when the current AN's mandate expires.
Sunday's vote saw 14,400 candidates from 107 political parties compete for seats, of which nine parties backed the government candidates and the rest ran independent candidates. 14,000 voting centres were used with an average of around 1500 voters enrolled per centre.
Venezuela is expected to hold local and regional elections to choose mayors and governors in 2021.
Edited by Ricardo Vaz from Me'rida.
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The Grayzone: Venezuela's Chavistas hold massive rally for legislative victory in Caracas Max Blumenthal reports from the final rally of the governing PSUV party in Caracas
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