Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has proposed bringing forward next year’s election for the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
National Assembly President Juan Guaidó dismissed the proposal as “a farce”. The two men have been at loggerheads since January when Guaidó declared himself interim president, arguing Maduro’s re-election was fraudulent.
President Maduro took part in a rally marking one year since his controversial re-election (Reuters)
Talks between the two sides via international mediators are under way in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
President Maduro made the proposal while he was addressing a crowd of supporters on the anniversary of his re-election in 2018.
“Let’s hold elections [for the National Assembly]. Let’s [have] a peaceful solution, electoral, democratic, constitutional.
“We are going to measure ourselves electorally, we are going to bring forward elections to the National Assembly,” he said without giving a date.
Maduro has in the past suggested bringing forward the National Assembly elections but then not acted on it. Large crowds wearing red T-shirts bearing the governing party’s PSUV logo cheered and waved banners. (BBC)
