More than 8 million vote in Venezuelan ANC election

CARACAS - Venezuela's National Electoral Council said on Sunday more than 8 million people voted to elect a new National Constituent Assembly, or ANC, tasked to rewrite the Constitution, with a 41.5 percent turnout rate.

The turnout is far beyond the estimates by both the government's political opponents and independent experts. The opposition said they believed about 2 million people voted.

President of the electoral body Tibisay Lucena announced at a news conference just before midnight that 8,089,320 people cast their ballots in the election.