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| - Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the leadership of a key opposition party hostile to President Nicolas Maduro, after the party announced it would boycott upcoming polls. The court's decision to suspend the leadership of the center-right Justice First followed a similar move against another opposition party, Democratic Action. Both were among 11 opposition parties that jointly announced their withdrawal from contesting upcoming legislative elections after the court -- seen as pro-Maduro -- named a regime-friendly electoral authority to oversee the polls. The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court "has decreed the suspension of the current national leadership of the political organization Justice First," the court said in a statement. The court appointed "an ad hoc steering committee" headed by lawmaker Jose Brito, a rival of opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by nearly 60 countries as interim president. The new committee can use "the electoral cards, logo, symbols, emblems, colors and any other titles specific to the organization," the court said. Henri Capriles, a key Justice First figure who challenged Maduro for the presidency in 2013, accused the court of "delivering our party to corrupt garbage." Justice First is a key ally of Guaido. Its founder, Julio Borges, is Guaido's foreign policy chief. Justice First, Democratic Action and nine other opposition parties on Sunday said they would boycott legislative elections scheduled for this year, on grounds that conditions were not in place to hold transparent elections. Guaido said at the weekend that the opposition would not recognize the "false" electoral authority named by the Supreme Court. Under Venezuela's constitution, the Guaido-led National Assembly -- the sole institution not under Maduro's control -- is responsible for nominating the electoral authority, but the Supreme Court ruled that it had failed to do so. On Tuesday, the Guaido-led Assembly voted to reject the new electoral authority. Meanwhile, the International Contact Group on Venezuela -- which includes the European Union, Britain and four Latin American countries -- said it "regretted" that the new National Electoral Council was named "without the participation of the National Assembly." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday slammed the move as "the latest step to rig the next Venezuelan election." atm/erc/db/to
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