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

It said the opposition had succeeded in gathering 1% of voter signatures in all 24 of Venezuela's states. The move is the first part of the opposition's push for an early end to President Maduro's term in office.

In a further twist, the supreme court suspended opposition activity in the country's parliament. It said activity would be frozen until three opposition members being investigated for vote-buying were removed.

Venezuela is going through a political and economic crisis, which has led to shortages of basic goods and looting.

The inflation rate is one of the highest in the world and there are long queues outside shops.

The election council said Maduro's opponents had cleared the threshold of obtaining 200,000 valid signatures on a petition demanding that the president face a recall referendum.

The council did not set a date for the next stage of the lengthy recall process - when the opposition will need to collect four million signatures in just three days.

The opposition accuses Maduro's administration of mismanaging the economy.

Maduro was elected in April 2013 and his term runs until 2019.