CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s opposition yesterday postponed its planned announcement of its strategy to oust President Nicolas Maduro, saying a Supreme Court ruling hamstringing its legislative powers had forced the delay.

“There will be no announcement today (Thursday)due to the circumstances of the past 48 hours,” said Jesus Torrealba, executive secretary of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

He did not set a new date to unveil how the opposition plans to oust Maduro before his term ends in 2019, a central promise of its campaign for December legislative elections that MUD won in a landslide.

Torrealba said the opposition would instead spend the day in a legislative debate on Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling, which stripped the National Assembly’s power to remove justices from the bench.

Tension in the recession-racked oil giant has reached the boiling point since the opposition won control of the National Assembly, the biggest threat yet to the socialist “revolution” launched by Maduro’s late mentor Hugo Chavez in 1999.

Since then, the Supreme Court has repeatedly stymied the opposition’s agenda to dislodge Maduro by constitutional means, after mass protests in 2014 swept the country and left 43 people dead but failed to oust him.

The two most obvious options – a recall referendum or a constitutional amendment reducing the presidential term from six years to four – face likely rejection by the Supreme Court or the National Electoral Council, both of which the opposition accuses Maduro of packing with allies.

The opposition has been locked in a power struggle with the high court since winning a landslide victory in legislative elections on December 6.

The court first reduced MUD’s powerful two-thirds majority, ruling that three of its lawmakers could not take their seats because of a pending case over alleged electoral fraud.

Then on Tuesday the court stripped the legislature’s power to remove justices from the bench, voiding MUD’s bid to review the recent appointment of 34 Supreme Court judges – passed by the previous legislature in an 11th-hour session on the eve of the opposition takeover.

The institutional power struggle comes against the backdrop of a crippling economic crisis exacerbated by the crash in the price of oil, Venezuela’s main revenue source. The economy contracted 5.7 per cent last year, its second year of recession.

MUD, a motley coalition that spans the political spectrum, but is dominated by the center-right, is united mainly by its shared hatred of Maduro.

It has been divided over the best strategy to pursue his ouster.

Radical opposition leaders sought to force him from power with street protests in 2014, but the main figures, such as Leopoldo Lopez, were jailed and the protests eventually fizzled out after descending into deadly clashes with police and counter-demonstrators.

The Supreme Court is meanwhile likely to reject any constitutional maneuvers to oust the president – which could also include convening a constitutional assembly to draft a new charter or declaring Maduro in breach of duty.

Moderate opposition leader Henrique Capriles, MUD’s candidate in the past two presidential elections, said Wednesday he favors the option of a recall referendum, which enables voters to remove elected officials midway through their terms.

But that would have to be validated by the National Electoral Council, which like the Supreme Court has been less than friendly to the opposition.