CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has left the country for asylum in Spain, the Venezuelan government said on Saturday.

Gonzalez Urrutia had "voluntarily taken refuge in the embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Caracas for several days" and subsequently applied to the government for political asylum, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said on social media.

Gonzalez Urrutia was facing an arrest warrant in Venezuela, requested on Monday by the attorney general's office and issued the same day by a court in Caracas.

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Venezuela's judicial authorities accused Gonzalez Urrutia of committing crimes including usurpation of authority, document forgery and incitement to defy the law.