LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: ‘A new stage of the struggle begins.’

Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party has vowed that a newly elected legislative super-body will begin passing laws quickly after a vote that was boycotted by the opposition and slammed by foreign governments as an affront to democracy.

At least 10 people were killed in protests on Sunday by opponents of unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who insists the new “constituent assembly” will bring peace after four months of protests that have killed more than 120 people.

The country’s CNE elections authority said 8.1 million voters went to the polls on Sunday. The opposition estimated only 2.5 million ballots were cast.

Maduro’s critics characterized the election as a naked power grab meant to keep him in office despite repudiation over an economic crisis that has spurred malnutrition and left citizens struggling to obtain basic products in the nation of about 30 million people.

Once the new assembly has given Maduro his “wider powers,” he will have to find himself a new set of scapegoats. Such is the struggle for the leader of the vanguard party.