BREAKING: VENEZUELA CANDIDATE ASSASSINATED

MR Jose Felix Pineda (Right)

A candidate in a controversial election taking place in Venezuela on Sunday was shot dead by assailants who broke into his home, prosecutors said.

Jose Felix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer on a ticket to become part of a Constituent Assembly tasked with rewriting the constitution, was murdered overnight in his home in the southeastern city of Ciudad Bolivar, the prosecutors office said.

The incident took place hours before the start of the vote on the constitutional process, continued protests of opposition to the regime has unleashed chavista and international condemnation from several Governments.