Venezuela opposition banned from running in 2018 election Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, has banned the country's three main opposition parties from taking part in next year's presidential election. He said only parties which took part in yesterday's mayoral polls would be able to contest the presidency. Leaders of the ''Justice First'', ''Popular Will'' and ''Democratic Action'' parties boycotted the vote with the view that the electoral system is biased. In October, the three main opposition parties announced they would be boycotting yesterday's vote to elect mayors in more than 300 towns and cities. They said the vote served what they called President Maduro's dictatorship. SOURCE: BBC NEWS ---DECRYPTED---