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| - Venezuela will hold elections in December to renew the National Assembly, the only institution in opposition hands, the electoral authority announced Tuesday. Candidates will contest an expanded number of seats, from 167 to 267, said Indira Alfonzo, the president of the recently appointed National Electoral Council. "We unanimously debated and built the special rules that will govern this December's parliamentary elections," Alfonzo said, announcing the increase in seats. She did not specify a date for the poll. The opposition led by Juan Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by some 60 countries, has accused President Nicolas Maduro's government of wanting to hold elections without meeting "the minimum conditions of transparency." The main opposition parties had already announced a boycott of the polls, and Maduro was accused by the United States of attempting to rig the election by naming a regime-friendly electoral authority. With the opposition marginalized, the government has a free hand to regain control of the parliament it lost in December 2015, when the opposition routed Maduro's Socialist Party, winning 112 of the 167 seats. bur/db/to
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