Venezuela holds elections at the end of April

caracas - Venezuela will hold presidential elections by 30 April at the latest. That is what the pro-government legislative meeting determined on Tuesday. The socialist leader Nicolás Maduro will almost certainly go for re-election, while the opposition is in disarray and several figureheads are excluded from participation.

An election date at the beginning of this year was generally expected, because the ruling socialist party is trying to take advantage of Maduro's recent power consolidation and disorder in the opposition that sees him as a dictator.

During a speech Tuesday, Diosdado Cabello of the Socialist Party pleaded for a quick election in the oil-rich, but recession-stricken country of 30 million people.