MADURO'S COUP AGAINST HIS OWN GOVERNMENT

Boycotting such a vote, even if believing the vote will be rigged, does not seem to me to be a good tactic.

While I agree with you in principle, in this case, I doubt that it would have made any difference. I suspect it was all set up in advance.

Sure, I know you are right. Just making that one point.
If the vote counters are determined to have a landslide at the polls, that is what they are going to have.

from the Washington Post

“Today I feel crushed, but not because of the results, because we knew that the government would cheat,” said Victoria Daboin, a 25-year-old who has been protesting since April. “I feel depressed because today everything looks normal, as if nothing had happened. The streets are empty and people went to work as if nothing ever happened. I personally expected more forceful actions from opposition leaders.”

Many credit the opposition with bravely challenging a repressive regime. But at a time when the socialist government is signaling a more radical stage of rule, some Venezuelans express concern that no single opposition leader has managed to emerge as Maduro’s obvious challenger.

A top contender, opposition leader Leopoldo López, remains under house arrest and sidelined from public activities. In recent days the opposition has seemed disorganized, caught flat-footed by a government announcement banning protests through Tuesday.

“Where's the leader who has mobilized people in the slums because they believe in him?” said Luis Vicente Leon, director of the Caracas-based pollster Datanálisis. “People in the slums are scared, but when you have a leader you love, that barrier can be overcome. That leader doesn't exist. And there's internal divisions within the coalition on how to confront this situation now.”

For the opposition, there appears, as of yet, to be no agreement on which tactic going forward is best.

And virtually all options harbor risks.

Some dissident voices here are pressing the opposition to accelerate its move to set up what is essentially a parallel government.

“We won’t do anything that is outside the constitution; we don’t have the constitutional powers to name a new president,” said Solorzano, the opposition lawmaker. “How are we going to combat illegality with more illegality? I understand people’s desperation, all of us are doing worse than ever. But we all have to keep going, it’s everyone’s responsibility, not just leaders.”

On July 16, the opposition held an informal ballot in which it reported 7.6 million people rejected the creation of the constituent assembly. Following that vote, the opposition announced a move to create its own “government of national unity.”

But the opposition’s most substantial move in that direction — the selection of magistrates to challenge the authority of the current pro-government Supreme Court — has resulted in three judges being arrested and several others going into hiding.

Some argue a move to install a parallel government could encourage stronger international action that could diplomatically isolate Maduro. Others, however, say that such a move could polarize the nation and trigger a government crackdown that could lead to a larger wave of politically motivated arrests.

CNN

Caracas, Venezuela (CNN)Leading Venezuelan opposition figures Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma have been taken from their homes, according to their families.