Venezuela will allow a coalition of major opposition political parties to field candidates in upcoming elections, the head of the electoral council said on Tuesday, as the opposition and government prepare to enter into a negotiation process.

The South American country's supreme court in 2018 ruled that the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which groups large opposition parties, could not participate in elections, arguing candidates could not be members of both the MUD and the individual political parties that form it.

The lifting of that ban by National Electoral Council (CNE) President Pedro Calzadilla comes after several actions by President Nicolas Maduro seen by some diplomats and analysts as olive branches to the opposition of state and local elections in November in the midst of a years-long political crisis.