Caracas: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro -- who is battling a crippling economic crisis in his oil-rich, cash-poor nation -- will seek re-election next year, Vice President Tareck El Aissami said Wednesday.
In 2018, "we will have, God willing, people willing, the re-election of our brother Nicolas Maduro as president of the republic," El Aissami told a meeting of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Next year's presidential election in the South American country -- a member of OPEC -- is scheduled for December, but some experts believe it could be brought forward to March.
The prolonged crisis in Venezuela has resulted in crippling shortages of food, medicine and industrial inputs, fueling inflation which at 1,000 percent is the world's highest.
Ratings agencies have found the country in partial default on massive international loans, estimated at $150 billion.
Maduro is also under fire internationally for marginalizing the opposition, which controls the legislature, and stifling independent media.
Protests against his rule have mounted: violent demonstrations and a harsh crackdown left 43 people dead in 2014 and earlier this year.
His government is due to begin talks with the main opposition coalition next week in the Dominican Republic to try to put an end to the political crisis.
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