Diosdado Cabello, head of the ruling Socialist Party, said on Friday the party had unanimously selected Nicolas Maduro as its candidate for this year’s presidential election, scheduled to take place by the end of April. The news comes on the heels of a political crisis – compounded by a nosediving economy and rising inflation – that gripped the Latin American country last year. The crisis was fuelled by the lingering conflict between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, which has repeatedly urged Maduro to resign. Earlier, the US said it will reject the “snap” 2018 election, as did several other countries in the region.