The starting gun has fired for Venezuela's highly charged election race, which will likely pit Hugo Chavez's preferred successor, acting President Nicolas Maduro, against centrist opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

The pair must register their candidacy for the April 14 vote by Monday to determine whether Chavez's cause will live on in the OPEC nation, home to the world's largest proven oil reserves.

Chavez died on Tuesday at the age of 58 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Maduro, 50, the former vice-president and a one-time bus driver and union leader-turned politician, is expected to win the election comfortably, according to two recent polls.

Maduro has vowed, if elected, to carry on where Chavez left off.

Fiery contender

The national electoral council set the poll date on Saturday one day after Maduro was sworn in.

Shortly after the date was set, the main opposition coalition announced it had unanimously chosen Capriles as its unity candidate again.

Capriles, the 40-year-old Miranda state governor who lost to Chavez in October but garnered the opposition's biggest vote against the former leader, accused the government and the Supreme Court of fraud for letting Maduro campaign without stepping down.

"We have all recognized Henrique Capriles Radonski as the person to embody this option of change," said Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, executive-secretary of the Democratic Unity Roundtable.

Capriles wrote on Twitter that he was "grateful" for the offer and will announce soon whether he will accept the nomination. He was picked by the coalition of opposition forces, known as MUD, last year in an unprecedented primary.

"I am analyzing the declaration of the president of the national election commission and will tell the country about my decision in the coming hours," Capriles said on Twitter.

Political hostilities had already begun just hours after Venezuela and more than 30 foreign leaders gave Chavez a rousing state funeral, with Maduro railing against the opposition and capitalism following his inauguration.

Before Maduro was sworn in, Capriles denounced the inauguration as a "constitutional fraud" and an abuse of power by the government.

"Nicolas, nobody elected you president. The people didn't vote for you, kid," Capriles said.

The electoral council said the campaign would be short, lasting from April 2 to 11.

The election will almost coincide with a key anniversary in Chavez's political history.

The late leader was briefly ousted on April 11, 2002, in a coup that was organized by the chamber of commerce and the trade union with the help of military officials. But he was restored to power by loyal soldiers on April 13 amid protests.

Thousands of Venezuelans, meanwhile, continued to file past the open casket of Chavez at a military academy in a prolonged farewell to the leader.

Deep divide

Chavez, a former paratrooper, was immensely popular among Venezuela's poor for funneling vast oil wealth into social programs and handouts, but he railed against the wealthy and scared investors with nationalizations.

Capriles said, if elected, he will copy Brazil's "modern left" model of economic and social policies.

With candidates assigned a campaigning window of just 10 days, and at an immediate disadvantage given the state resources at Maduro's disposal, Capriles faces an uphill battle.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 03/11/2013 page11)