Venezuela's national election council has announced its approval of the first step in an opposition campaign to remove President Nicolas Maduro, BBC reported.

Maduro's opponents managed to gather 1% of voter signatures in all 24 of Venezuela's states. Now they need to get support of 20% Venezuelan voters and to collect 4,000,000 signatures.

Nicolas Maduro was elected in 2013 for a term of six years.

There is a shortage of many goods of daily demand in Venezuela due to the serious economic crisis caused by the fall in oil prices. The shelves of many stores are empty, and the residents should stay in queues for a whole day to get the most necessary things. Critics of the government accuse President Maduro of inability to operate economy. Maduro, in turn, blames big business and U.S. authorities for food shortages.