Venezuelan weekend vote seen as last chance to stop power grab

Venezuelans head to the polls Sunday in a tense vote that the opposition hopes will mark a watershed — and the government insists means nothing at all. The weekend plebiscite will ask voters if they support the government’s plan to elect an unpopular National Constituent Assembly that will overhaul the 1999 constitution. Critics, including some inside the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, fear that President Nicolás Maduro will use the new entity to tighten his hold on the South American country and further delay — or outright cancel — elections. More…