by Victoria Arguello
CARACAS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Faced with increasing uncertainty about their country, a number of people expressed their hopes to Xinhua that Venezuela's spiralling political violence, which has killed at least 102 people since early April, would come to an end.
"If there is more violence, the people will pay the consequences. We hope our country stabilizes," said Ulises Rivero, a 29-year-old Venezuelan teacher.
Beleaguered by sky-high inflation, speculation on market prices and a scarcity of basic products, Venezuelans say they want political and social stability.
With few days left to go before the July 30 election to elect the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), which will rewrite the constitution, tensions are higher than ever.
Nestor Belandria, a 33-year-old mechanical engineering student, said there should be a mediation held in a "constitutional and peaceful way to bring about fair elections with an eye to the interests of people."
For physiotherapist Marian Figueroa, "the near future is uncertain because everything will be debated on July 30."
Once the 545 ANC delegates are elected, they will draft a new constitution, which will likely be submitted for a popular referendum.
Others want to see presidential elections, set for 2018, to be held ahead of schedule.
"I want elections to change the president but I also want a new opposition," said Stefany Leon, a student in administration at the University of Carabobo.
Party activists are more definite about where their fears lie.
Andreina Tarazon, a youth leader within the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), believes the government's main challenge is to prevent the opposition's attempts to spark a civil war.
He worries if violence erupts into civil war, foreign governments who are sympathetic with the opposition, such as the United States, may intervene.
Tarazon told Xinhua that the constitutional initiative is needed to break the current political deadlock between the opposition-controlled legislature and the socialist-led executive branch.
"Our challenge is to guarantee the constitutional powers belonging to different government branches, since without political stability, there is no peace, and without peace, it is impossible to take the economic measures that are essential right now," said Tarazon.
PSUV candidates will need to garner a majority of the votes on Sunday to strengthen the government's hand in negotiating with the opposition to scale down protests, he noted.
The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) opposition coalition gained a two-thirds majority in elections to the National Assembly, or congress in 2015.
The opposition organized its own poll on July 16 against the constitutional initiative, and claimed to have drawn more than 7 million voters, a number the government contested.
Those numbers don't worry Tarazon, who said "they are not higher than those obtained by President Maduro in 2013," when Maduro ran to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, and garnered 50.6 percent of the votes compared to 49 percent for MUD candidate Henrique Capriles.
"The socialist party has the possibility to remain in political power amid this economic and political juncture. Venezuelans have had a front-row seat to the right-wing's fierce attack on the stability of the country," said Tarazon.
Others disagree. The former leader of leftist political movement Marea Socialista, Nicmer Evans, says the PSUV has generated a lot of discontent and "lost its social base."
The government was unable to maintain a "coherent" position to deal with the current economic crisis, according to Evans.
Tarazon admits the ruling party has made mistakes, but the constituent assembly is not one of them.
"The PSUV has to redefine its concepts, but above all, it has to continue to strengthen itself and maintain a strong hold on the practices of participatory democracy and political stability," said Tarazon.