Exclusive - Venezuelan vote data casts doubt on turnout at Sunday poll

People wait in line next to an image of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before voting during the Constituent Assembly election in Caracas, Venezuela July 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

CARACAS (Reuters) - Only 3.7 million people had voted by 5.30 p.m. in Venezuela's controversial Constitutional Assembly election on Sunday, according to internal electoral council data reviewed by Reuters, casting doubt on the 8.1 million people authorities said had voted that day.

The election of the legislative super-body has been decried by critics as illegitimate and designed to give the unpopular government of President Nicolas Maduro powers to rewrite the constitution and sideline the opposition-led congress.