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Caracas (AP) - In the midst of a serious political and economic crisis, the Venezuelans have elected a new parliament.
Observers assumed that President Nicolás Maduro's socialist party PSUV should achieve a majority.
Large parts of the opposition boycotted the vote on Sunday because they expected fraud.
The Organization of American States (OAS) had already declared before the election that the conditions for a free and fair election were not in place.
Maduro called on the international community to accept the election result.
"We respect the peoples' right to self-determination," he wrote on Twitter.
"We demand respect for the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people."
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Should the majority in parliament go to the government supporters, as expected, the opposition would lose the last state institution it controlled in the South American country.
Without a majority in the National Assembly, the legitimacy of the self-appointed interim president Juan Guaidó is likely to be called into question.
According to the opposition, numerous Venezuelans followed their call for a boycott.
The turnout was below 20 percent, said Vice President of the National Assembly, Juan Pablo Guanipa.
The election office extended the opening hours of the polling stations by one hour in the evening.
"The election is a fraud of the dictatorship led by Nicolás Maduro and will only exacerbate the crisis in the country," wrote the foreign minister of Guaidó's counter-government, Julio Borges, in an open letter to the international community on Sunday.
"What Venezuela needs are free presidential and parliamentary elections."
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Venezuela is in a deep crisis.
Guaidó declared himself interim president at the beginning of 2019 and had been recognized as legitimate head of state by numerous countries - including Germany and the USA.
However, he has not yet managed to prevail against Maduro.
The authoritarian ruling head of state is supported in the power struggle by the powerful military.
The United Nations accuse the security forces of serious human rights violations.
While Guaidó had initially managed to unite the opposition behind him, the rifts between moderate government opponents and hardliners came to light again with continued failure.
Should Maduro now also gain a majority in the National Assembly, he would again have all the important state powers under his control.
Once again he would have managed to simply sit out the uprising against his authoritarian government.
Meanwhile, the once rich country is steering deeper and deeper into a humanitarian crisis.
Due to a lack of foreign exchange and numerous sanctions, it can hardly import food, medicines and everyday items.
Even gasoline is now in short supply in the country with the largest oil reserves in the world.
According to a study by the Catholic University of Andrés Bello, 96 percent of households live in poverty.
Millions of Venezuelans have left their homes.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201207-99-596901 / 2