Probe into voting fraud launched

Maduro delays the launch of a powerful new assembly

The opposition will go ahead with a big march against the new assembly

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is going ahead with the inauguration of a powerful new assembly, albeit with a 24-hour delay, even though the British firm hired to handle the vote said the turnout figure given by his government was too high.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega, one of Maduro's most outspoken critics, said she has opened an investigation into what she called scandalous electoral fraud.

The opposition said it would go ahead with a big march against the new assembly, even though the actual swearing has been put off until today.

Maduro denied the accusations of trampling on democracy in Venezuela with Sunday's controversial election for an all-powerful "Constituent Assembly," dismissing them as a "reaction by the international enemy."

The technology firm hired to handle the vote, Smartmatic, said in a London news conference that the official figures from the election were "tampered with" to make turnout appear greater than it was.

Ortega said the firm's assessment was just "one more element of the fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional process" initiated by the socialist ruler.

"We are facing an unprecedented, serious incident that represents a crime," Ortega told CNN.

The electoral authority itself -- criticized as a Maduro mouthpiece -- denied the vote-tampering allegation as "an irresponsible contention based on estimates with no grounding in the data."

The new 545-member body -- whose members include Maduro's wife and son -- will have sweeping powers to dissolve the opposition-majority congress, pass laws and write a new constitution.

Despite months of violent protests and international condemnation, Maduro insists it is the solution to a drawn-out economic and political crisis gripping Venezuela.

The assembly was originally due to start work yesterday, but Maduro postponed the launch today in the face of opposition plans for massive protests.