FORMER Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain.

The move is a major blow to the United States-backed opposition.

Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez announced his departure late on Saturday.

She said the government had decided to grant Mr Gonzalez safe passage out of the country, just days after ordering his arrest, to help restore Venezuela’s “political peace and tranquillity.”

Neither Mr Gonzalez nor opposition leader Maria Corina Machado have commented.

Spain’s socialist government said the decision to abandon Venezuela was Mr Gonzalez’s alone and he departed on a plane sent by the country’s air force.

“Spain is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Twitter.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab sought Mr Gonzalez’s arrest after he failed to appear three times in connection with a criminal investigation into what the government considers an act of electoral sabotage.

Mr Saab told reporters the voting records the opposition shared online were forged and an attempt to undermine the national electoral council.