Venezuela Sets July 28 Election Date

Venezuela will go to the polls on July 28 to choose a president, the electoral authority said, with incumbent Nicolas Maduro widely expected to stand and his main opponent precluded from running.

Last year, Maduro's government and the opposition reached a mediated deal in Barbados to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 with international observers present.

The president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, said the body's members had "unanimously" settled on July 28.

The Barbados agreement saw the United States ease sanctions against the South American country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited oil extraction and leading the way to a prisoner swap.

It required that opposition candidates be able to appeal previous rulings that they were ineligible to hold office.

However the Supreme Court, loyal to Maduro, has since upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado, among other opposition figures.

That resulted in the United States announcing it would reimpose some sanctions.

Last month, Maduro said the "people in power" would surely win.

"We are the people in power. We will win one way or another," Maduro told thousands of supporters in the capital for a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of a failed coup led by Hugo Chavez, who later became president and designated Maduro as his successor.

A March 25 deadline for candidate registration may force the opposition's hand. Machado's campaign said she was in the country's Andean region and it offered no immediate comment after the election date was announced.

Maduro's re-election to a six-year term during the last presidential vote in 2018 has been criticized by the opposition, the United States and others as fraudulent.

Government-allied lawmakers, opposition groups and others last week proposed a variety of dates, ranging from April to December.