Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the decision on Friday, saying that the poll initially scheduled for April 22 would now be held on May 20.
Tibisay Lucena, head of the CNE, said the surprise postponement was the result of a deal reached between the ruling Socialist Party of incumbent President Nicolas Maduro and political leaders of Venezuelan opposition parties such as Progressive Advance, COPEI and MAS.
“With this agreement, we ratify that in Venezuela we choose our leaders with the broadest and fullest electoral guarantees,” she added.
Maduro’s two strongest opposition rivals, Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles, are both barred from standing following the violence fueled by opposition protests last year, which claimed nearly 130 lives.
Maduro has registered his candidacy and plans to run for a second six-year term against a background of severe economic problems.
There are speculations that the delay will ease pressure on the Venezuelan government, which already faces criticism over the country’s economic and political crisis in the wake of plunging oil prices in the global market.
Maduro, the 55-year-old president who came to power after the late Hugo Chavez in 2013, says the right-wing opposition is incited by the United States to topple his socialist government, hobble the country’s economy, and plunder its oil wealth.
