Maduro will advance the elections in the National Assembly

In act in the Miraflores Palace, Maduro called on the opposition to vote by election. "We are going to hold elections, we are going to the early elections of the National Assembly," he added.

The current National Assembly, which remained in the hands of the opposition after the withdrawal of the ruling party in 2017, was elected in 2015 and its five-year term ends in December of the year. next.

Minutes before the presidential statement, the pro-government party National Constituent Assembly (ANC) unanimously approved extending its operating period of one and a half years until December 31, 2020.

The president of the ANC, Diosdado Cabello, the second strongman of the Venezuelan government, said that he had extended his work "to continue to fulfill the tasks entrusted" by Maduro.

The ANC, composed of some 545 members, has been operational since August 2017 and was scheduled to run until August this year, a period that will follow constituents' approval until December 2020.

The proposal to advance the elections now it must be approved by the ANC, which is taken for granted because it is dominated by supporters of the government.

The opposition led by the head of Parliament did not react immediately. Juan Guaidó, which invoked articles of the Constitution in January to declare itself president, and which is recognized by dozens of countries. The ANC wanted to draft a new constitution, but since its inception it was responsible for approving the rules and decrees.

The body withdrew parliamentary immunity this month from some 12 opposition MPs, accused of conspiracy by the Supreme Court to support a mobilization led by Guaidó and a small group of servicemen at the end of April. .