Experts see tough battle as Venezuela prepares to vote

Trailing in the polls and saddled with a weak economy, the leftist government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will not be surrendering power gracefully as the country prepares for critical parliamentary in December, analysts warned Thursday. Following the conviction for inciting violence and the 14-year sentence handed down to opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez late last week — a verdict slammed by the Obama administration and human rights groups, Mr. Maduro will likely try to sabotage the opposition and avoid the first electoral defeat for the left since the late populist President Hugo Chavez came to power 16 years ago, according to Miriam Kornblith, director for Latin American and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy. More…