Fears that Venezuela's Dec. 6 legislative elections may lead to violence came to fruition on Sunday, weeks before the vote. The country's opposition party claimed that shots were fired at a candidate's campaign caravan in a poor neighborhood of Caracas.

Reuters reported National Assembly member Miguel Pizarro said heavily-armed men confronted him and his backers during a walkabout in the Venezuelan capital's José Félix Ribas de Petare slum, before opening fire.

"Neither their shots, nor their pistols, nor their threats can overcome the strength of a people who have decided to change," added Pizarro, who is running for re-election.

No one was injured in the incident, even though the attackers were carrying heavy weaponry, El Nacional reported. According to Pizarro's account, the gunmen were armed with both pistols, and R15 and HK semiautomatic rifles. They ambushed the caravan from a neighborhood store.

The lawmaker is a member of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable, representing an electoral district of Venezuela's industrial state of Miranda in the country's National Assembly. He claimed that many of the assailants wore T-shirts and sweaters identifying them as sympathizers of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela of embattled President Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro has admitted that the upcoming vote is the toughest election his socialist forces have faced in their nearly 17-year government, Reuters added. Polls suggest that his coalition may lose its majority in parliament over widespread anger at Venezuela's economic crisis.

Meanwhile, Miranda Gov. Henrique Capriles, who also serves as the country's unofficial opposition leader, published photos from the José Félix Ribas de Petare incident that showed individuals carrying pistols and what looked like a machine gun.

Capriles included Ernesto Samper in the tweets. Samper, the former president of Colombia, is currently the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations. 

The attack marks the third time Venezuelan opposition figures have been assaulted while campaigning this month, Descifrado reported. Last week, Lilian Tintori, the wife of imprisoned opposition figure Leopoldo López, was the subject of an attack. Two weeks ago, violence prevented Capriles from visiting the town of San Antonio de Yare.