CARACAS, May 21. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has proposed to the opposition controlling the country's National Assembly to hold snap parliamentary elections in order to resolve the political crisis in the Bolivarian Republic.
"Today I am making a proposal to the opposition — let's try to compete in elections," Maduro said at a demonstration broadcast by Venezolana de Television. "Let's hold an early election to the National Assembly, in order to see whom the people support," he added.
Snap elections would represent "a democratic, peaceful and constitutional solution" to the difficult political situation in the country, Maduro noted.
Next scheduled parliamentary elections will be held in Venezuela in 2020.
On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the country's acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States. On January 28 the US imposed sancitons on Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA oil company.
Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN secretary general called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.