Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday called on the opposition to nominate candidates for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2020, TASS reported.

Maduro admitted that the situation with the spread of coronavirus could interfere with the election. 

This year, elections should be held if a pandemic allows it, he noted.

The Venezuelan government reported the first two COVID-19 cases on March 13, and a state of emergency was introduced on the same day. On March 17, Maduro announced a decision to introduce quarantine throughout the republic. As of May 13, Venezuela has confirmed 440 COVID-19 cases, at least 10 people died.

The political situation in Venezuela escalated after January 23, 2019, the country's opposition leader Juan Guaido, whose appointment to the post of speaker of the parliament two days earlier, was canceled by the Supreme Court, declared himself acting president. He was recognized as the interim head of state by the US, Lima Group countries (except Mexico), the Organization of American States, and most EU member states. Maduro called the incident a coup attempt and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the US. In turn, Russia, Belarus, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria, and Turkey supported Madur.