Venezuela's presidential elections will be held on April 22nd. The President of the National Electoral Council announced the decision on Wednesday.

Last month, the National Constituent Assembly unanimously voted to move up the presidential elections to sometime before the April 30th deadline. President Nicolas Maduro will be running for re-election as the candidate of the United Socialist Party. Elections were set to take place in December this year. But the ruling Socialist Party feared that external support for the right-wing opposition coalition could strengthen the anti-government movement over the coming months.