Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has agreed to let jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez vote in Sunday's key legislative elections, a visiting Colombian ex-leader said after meeting with Maduro.
Lopez, a US-trained economist, was sentenced to 14 years in jail last year after he was convicted of inciting violence during deadly anti-government protests.
His supporters say he is a political prisoner and the United States and European Union have condemned his sentence. A prosecutor in the case has said false evidence was used against Lopez.
Colombia's former president Andres Pastrana was visiting Caracas with five other Latin American ex-leaders, open critics of Maduro, to urge Venezuelan authorities to oversee a peaceful and transparent election.
He said after meeting with Maduro that he had promised to let Lopez vote on Sunday, though the government did not immediately confirm the claim.
"They have agreed to this and I think it is very important. All my fellow former presidents insisted on it," Pastrana told reporters.
Lopez is leader of Popular Will, one of the parties in a broad opposition coalition that is hoping to win control of the state legislature from Maduro's socialist leadership.
Lopez's arrest heightened tensions in the oil-rich Latin American country and leaders have warned that fresh unrest could break out after Sunday's vote.
Lopez's defense team has argued he has the right to vote since he still has an appeal pending against his conviction.
AFP
