Venezuela opposition holds unofficial plebiscite to defy Maduro

REUTERS, 16th JULY, 2017
Venezuela’s opposition holds an unofficial referendum on Sunday to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro as he seeks to create a legislative superbody that his adversaries call the consolidation of a dictatorship.

The symbolic poll, which will also ask voters if they want early elections, is intended to further dent Maduro’s legitimacy amid a crippling economic crisis and three months of anti-government protests that have led to nearly 100 deaths. The opposition has cast the vote, which begins at 7 a.m. local time at some 2,000 centres around the country, as an act of civil disobedience to be followed by “zero hour,” a possible reference to a national strike or other escalated actions 
against Maduro.