Voting machine maker says Venezuela’s election tainted

The CEO of a company that made voting machines for Venezuela’s National Assembly election said Wednesday someone tampered with the results to inflate voter turnout numbers. Antonio Mugica of the company Smartmatic told reporters in London there was a discrepancy of 1 million votes between the turnout figures announced by the government and those recorded by his systems. The National Electoral Council claimed more than 8 million Venezuelans cast ballots for delegates to a government-backed, all-powerful assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution and override any other branch of government. Opposition leaders questioned that figure, and at least one exit poll suggested the turnout was less than half that amount. The president of the sitting legislature called for an investigation.