CARACAS, March 11 – Venezuela announced that it will hold a presidential election to succeed late leader Hugo Chavez on April 14 after his political heir took office.
The national electoral council set the date one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting president in a ceremony largely boycotted by the opposition, which slammed it as unconstitutional.
Shortly after the date was set, the main opposition coalition announced it had chosen Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October election, as its unity candidate again, this time to face Maduro.
Capriles wrote on Twitter that he was “grateful” for the offer and would announce soon whether he will accept the nomination. The Miranda state governor was picked by the Democratic Unity Roundtable last year in an unprecedented primary. 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 abuse of power by the government.
“Nicolas, nobody elected you president. The people didn’t vote for you, kid,” said Capriles, 40, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential election. He argued that the caretaker president cannot run for office under the constitution.
Chavez beat Capriles by 11 points. But the governor gave the opposition its best result ever against the late president, garnering 44%, or 6.5 million, of ballots.
A recent survey by pollsters Hinterlaces gave Maduro a 14-point advantage over Capriles, though the opposition leader has questioned the firm’s reliability in the past.
“The next president will have huge challenges: Earning the respect of the impoverished population, who blindly believe in Chavez, in a divided country,” said Central University of Venezuela professor Agustin Blanco.
BERNAMA
