CARACAS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan opposition party Popular Will (VP) said Friday that it "will not field nor support any candidate" for April's presidential elections called early by the government.
Earlier this month, the country's electoral body National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the 2018 presidential elections are schedued for April 22.
The date was indicated in a document signed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro during the process of negotiating an election date with the right-wing opposition in the Dominican Republic, although the opposition refused to approve it.
The VP, founded by Leopoldo Lopez, who is currently under house arrest, is the first member of the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) to withhold its support for any opposition candidate.
The VP and another opposition party, Justice First, were barred from contesting the election by the CNE earlier this month.
The MUD is currently engaged in an internal consultation process to decide whether to field a candidate against Maduro.
A sector of the opposition rejects any participation in the elections set by the National Constitutional Assembly, saying there are no "electoral guarantees."
The government says such guarantees are in place and has invited international observers to supervise the electoral proceedings.
The 2018 elections were originally scheduled to take place in December.
