Maduro officially announces his candidacy for the presidency of Venezuela.

From the Venezuelan News Agency

Brasilia – Venezuela's interim president, Nicolás Maduro, has officially registered his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic with the National Electoral Council (CNE). Elections in Venezuela are scheduled for April 14.

Maduro is the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and was designated as the successor to Hugo Chávez, who died last Tuesday (5) in Caracas, at the age of 58.

Capriles and Maduro exchange accusations in a harsh Venezuelan campaign.

By Andrew Cawthorne, Reuters - Presidential candidates Nicolás Maduro and Henrique Capriles have begun Venezuela's election campaign with scathing personal attacks, even as thousands of Venezuelans continue to mourn the death of Hugo Chávez.

Maduro, who was sworn in as interim president after Chávez lost his battle with cancer last week, is seen as the favorite to win the April 14 election. He has the support of the oil-funded state apparatus and enjoys a surge of popular sympathy following Chávez's death.

Chávez made it clear before his fourth and final cancer operation in December that he wanted Maduro as his Socialist Party's candidate to succeed him in the event of his death.

Maduro promises to continue the socialist policies of Chávez's 14-year government, including the popular use of Venezuela's vast oil revenues to finance social programs.

But Capriles is promising a tough battle.

"Nicolás, I'm not going to give you a free pass... you're not Chávez," Capriles said in a combative speech on Sunday night. He also accused Maduro of lying by downplaying Chávez's health problems while preparing his own presidential candidacy.

"Nicolás lied to this country for months," Capriles said. "You are exploiting someone who is no longer here, because you have nothing more to offer the country... I don't play with death, I don't play with suffering."

Minutes later, in a late-night address to the nation, Maduro said his rival was playing with fire, insulting Chávez's family and risking prosecution.

"You can see the repugnant face of the fascist that he is," said a visibly furious Maduro, claiming that the opposition was trying to provoke violence. "Their goal is to provoke the Venezuelan people."

At stake in the election is not only the future of Chávez's "socialist revolution," but also the continuation of subsidies for Venezuelan oil and other essential aid to the economies of leftist allies across Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Maduro and Capriles are expected to formally register their candidacies with Venezuela's electoral authority this Monday.

Shaken by Chávez's death and now immersed in the election campaign, Venezuelans are experiencing a return to normalcy in a way this Monday, with most schools and shops reopening after being closed for most of last week.

FIGHT

Chávez's official mourning period ends on Tuesday.

Several million Venezuelans visited Chávez's coffin at a military academy in a dramatic display of grief.

Despite being criticized by many for his authoritarian tendencies and manipulation of the economy, Chávez was loved by millions, especially the poor, because of his own humble origins, simple language, attacks on US "imperialists" and the Venezuelan "elite," as well as his welfare policies in Venezuela's slums.

He is rapidly gaining an almost religious status among supporters, perhaps similar to that of Argentina's former populist ruler Juan Perón and his wife, Eva Perón.

State television has been showing speeches and appearances by Chávez more and more frequently, alongside a banner saying "Chávez lives forever".

Capriles, a 40-year-old opposition governor, belongs to the centrist party and describes himself as a "progressive" who admires Brazil's political model. He ran in the last presidential election in October, receiving 44 percent of the vote, but was unable to prevent Chávez's reelection.

Maduro, 50, a former bus driver and union leader who echoes Chávez's anti-imperialist rhetoric, will surely make his former boss the centerpiece of his campaign, portraying himself as the sole heir to Chavismo.

Two opinion polls published before Chávez's death gave Maduro a lead of more than 10 percentage points.

Chávez's death and the impending election overshadowed other pressing issues in Venezuela, including a set of economic austerity measures that the government was supposed to announce.

(Additional reporting by Mario Naranjo and Simon Gardner)