Manuel Rosales, a 62-year old Venezuelan opposition party politician who had spent six years outside of his country, was arrested upon his return to Venezuela on Thursday.

The BBC reports that Rosales, who ran against the late President Hugo Chavez in 2006, was detained soon after landing in the northwestern city of Maracaibo. The former Venezuelan presidential candidate came back hoping to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections, which will take place on Dec. 6.

Rosales fled to Peru in 2009 due to allegations of corruption regarding his 2000 to 2008 term as governor of Zulia state. He is expected to appear in court in Caracas soon.

Before departing, Rosales tweeted pictures of himself getting on the plane as well as one that reads: "With God and the Virgin Mary, preparing to go to Venezuela to meet my people again."

Rosales had been warned that there would be an arrest warrant waiting for him when he returned. Reuters reports Rosales’ attorney, Jesus Ollarves, said that his client fully expected to be detained upon his return to Venezuela but came back home anyway, as he believed that "exile is the worst prison."

The upcoming parliamentary elections will be the first since President Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013.

Rosales now joins fellow opposition politicians such as protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, who have recently been been jailed by Maduro’s administration.

Supporters of the jailed former candidate believe that the accusations of corruption he faces are in fact just lingering aspects of a political witch hunt. The late Hugo Chavez had publically railed against Rosales, saying, "Manuel Rosales, I will sweep you from the political map of Venezuela."

Maduro's government has accused opposition leaders of conspiring with Right Wing governments in an effort to destabilize the nation.