He said only parties which took part in Sunday’s mayoral polls would be able to contest the presidency.

Leaders from the Justice First, Popular Will and Democratic Action parties boycotted the vote because they said the electoral system was biased.

President Maduro insists the Venezuelan system is entirely trustworthy.

In a speech on Sunday, he said the opposition parties had “disappeared from the political map”.

“A party that has not participated today and has called for the boycott of the elections can’t participate anymore”, he said.

In October, the three main opposition parties announced they would be boycotting Sunday’s vote, saying it only served what they called President Maduro’s dictatorship.

President Maduro says his party won more than 300 of the 335 mayoral races being contested. The election board put turn out at 47%.

Venezuela has been mired in a worsening economic crisis characterised by shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation.

Mr Maduro said he was following the criteria set by the National Constituent Assembly in banning opposition parties from contesting next year’s election.

But the assembly, which came into force in August and has the ability to rewrite the constitution, is dominated by government loyalists. Opposition parties see it as a way for the president to cling to power.

The presidential vote had been scheduled for December 2018, but analysts say it could now be brought forward.

Venezuela, in the north of South America, is home to more than 30 million people. It has some of the world’s largest oil deposits as well as huge quantities of coal and iron ore.

Despite its rich natural resources many Venezuelans live in poverty. This led President Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, to style himself as a champion of the poor during his 14 years in office.

Now the country is starkly divided between supporters of President Maduro and those who want an end to the Socialist Party’s 18 years in government.

Supporters of Mr Maduro say his party has lifted many people out of poverty, but critics say it has eroded Venezuela’s democratic institutions and mismanaged its economy.

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Source: BBC

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Ms Ortega, a fierce critic of President Nicolás Maduro, called for an independent audit of the vote.

The move came just hours after the British-based company, Smartmatic, that supplied the voting system said that the turnout figures had been inflated.

Mr Maduro has dismissed the claims.

Ms Ortega said she had appointed two prosecutors to investigate four out of the five directors of the National Electoral Council (CNE) “for this very scandalous act that could generate more violence in the country than what we have already experienced”.

Critics say the council is stacked with government loyalists who do the president’s bidding.

Lone voice
But one of its five directors, Luis Rondón, has been openly critical of the constituent assembly, which President Maduro convened.

Speaking on Wednesday, he said that the allegations made by election technology company Smartmatic backed up the concerns he had raised about failures in the run-up to the vote.

“This election was different from all others carried out by the National Electoral Council,” he said before demanding that “the results should be transparent for all Venezuelan people”.

He also pointed out that the full results still had not been published and that the council’s website was showing an error message.

Mr Rondón called on his fellow electoral council directors to suspend the swearing in of the constituent assembly members until a full audit had been carried out.

However, this is unlikely to happen as the head of the electoral council, Tibisay Lucena, has defended the vote and its results.

‘Unprecedented incident’
Just hours after Mr Rondón’s statement, Ms Ortega also cast doubt on the legality of Sunday’s poll.

“We are facing an unprecedented, serious incident that represents a crime,” she told CNN.

However, it is unclear at this point if the investigation is likely to proceed.

Previous attempts by Ms Ortega to challenge executive decisions have been blocked and she has been fiercely attacked by government loyalists.

A close ally of Mr Maduro, Jorge Rodríguez, said it was only a matter of time until she would be removed from her post.
“She is the past,” said Mr Rodríguez, who is among the socialist party loyalists to be elected to the constituent assembly.

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Source: BBC

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Footage on social media shows a police helicopter circling over the city before shots and a loud bang are heard.

The police officer said to have piloted the stolen aircraft issued a statement denouncing the “criminal government”. His whereabouts are unknown.

It comes after mass protests against the political and economic crisis.

The Supreme Court is regularly criticised by the Venezuelan opposition for its rulings which bolster Mr Maduro’s hold on power.

What happened?

In an address from the presidential palace, President Maduro said the helicopter had flown over the Supreme Court and also the justice and interior ministries.

Officials quoted by Reuters news agency said four grenades were dropped on the court and 15 shots had been fired at the interior ministry.

No injuries were reported but Mr Maduro said “a social event” had been taking place at the Supreme Court and the attack could have caused “dozens of deaths”. One of the grenades failed to detonate, he added.

Mr Maduro has placed the military on alert.

“I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace,” he said. “Sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those who carried out this terror attack.”

Who flew the helicopter?

The police officer identified himself as Oscar Pérez in video statements posted on the social media platform Instagram.

Appearing in military fatigues and flanked by armed, masked men in uniform, he appealed to Venezuelans to oppose “tyranny”.

“We are a coalition of military employees, policemen and civilians who are looking for balance and are against this criminal government,” he said.

“We don’t belong to any political tendency or party. We are nationalists, patriots and institutionalists.”

He said the “fight” was not against the security forces but “against the impunity of this government. It is against tyranny”.

It is not clear how much support, if any, the officer has.

Mr Maduro said the pilot had worked for former Interior and Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres, but was no longer with him.

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Source: BBC

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