Candidates for Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Meet in Caracas

Candidates for Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, or ANC, are meeting in the country's capital this Monday.

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With over 6000 candidates running for 545 seats representing territories and sectors, the meeting, scheduled to take place in Caracas' iconic Bolivar Plaza, will be an opportunity for hopefuls will introduce themselves to the Venezuelan people prior to July 30 elections.

On Friday, Francisco Torrealba, an ANC candidate running for the Worker's Sector, said that Monday marks a crucial day for the ANC working class as all Zamora 200 Commands “must go to all factories, no matter how small, to all public and private companies. Wherever there's a male or female worker, they must incorporate themselves into a Popular Constituent Committee in order to promote participation.”

Additionally, this Monday begins the process of audits and detailed review of each step involved with the election of the representatives of the ANC.

"We're going to have an audit process that's very important to emphasize that, for the first time, the parties will not be those who attend the audits but by all those citizens who are participating in this process on their own initiative," said Tania D'Amelio, a member of Venezuela's National Electoral Council.

The National Constituent Assembly electoral campaign begins on July 9 and will run until July 27.

Three days later, 545 members will be chosen in direct and secret elections that will determine who will sit on the body that will draft the constitutional text that will be put to popular vote.