By Nicholas Casey, Patricia Torres & Ana Vanessa Herrero @ NYTimes.com, July 30

[....] President Nicolás Maduro had ordered a rewriting of Venezuela’s Constitution, its governing charter. Sunday’s election was simply to pick the members of the constituent assembly that will carry it out. Nearly all candidates were politicians close to Mr. Maduro, presumably assuring that the outcome would leave his leftist movement with complete control of the country once the assembly takes charge [....]

Many Venezuelans decided not to vote, as evidenced by short or no lines at polling places, dealing a serious blow to the popular legitimacy of Mr. Maduro’s effort.

Prosecutors said on Sunday that they were investigating the death of José Félix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer running for the constituent assembly. An armed group broke into Mr. Pineda’s home in the city of Ciudad Bolívar on Saturday night and shot him dead there, they said.

Hours later, a large explosion rocked a middle-class neighborhood in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, injuring seven police officers on patrol there. Video circulated on social media showed the uniformed officers, all on motorcycles, riding into a fireball that had just erupted in front of them [....]

As the day wore on, government security forces used water cannons, rubber bullets and batons against opposition protesters, just as they have for the last three months.

Among those killed on Sunday were two boys, ages 13 and 17, who were shot dead during protests in the western state of Táchira; a police officer shot dead in front of a school; and a 43-year-old man killed in the central city of Barquisimeto in Lara State, when a bullet pierced his head, according to the state prosecutor’s office.

The focus of many voters in Caracas seemed to be on food, not politics. Venezuela remains in an economic tailspin, causing severe shortages of food and medicine [.....]