(CNN) - Venezuela's presidential election to pick a successor to the late Hugo Chavez will be held April 14, Venezuelan state television reported Saturday.
After serving 14 years as the South American nation's leader, Chavez died Tuesday at 58 after a battle with cancer.
His vice president, Nicolas Maduro, was sworn in Friday as Venezuela's acting president.
In a bombastic speech at that ceremony, Maduro appealed to the opposition to field a presidential candidate.
"May the best person win," he said. "The people will decide."
The official campaign period for the upcoming vote will be held April 2 to April 11, said National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena.
Opposition leader and Miranda State Gov. Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in last fall's presidential election, called Maduro's swearing in as "an abuse of power."
"To be president, the people have to elect you," Capriles said. "The constitution is very clear."
Chavez was a larger-than-life figure during his time as Venezuela's president, positioning himself as a champion of the poor who cast himself as a "21st century socialist." He steered much of Venezuela's vast oil wealth to social programs to end illiteracy, provide food for the poor and allow more people access to higher education.
Internationally, he became one of the world's most high-profile and vocal leftist leaders, as well as the United States' chief adversary in Latin America.
His policies made him a polarizing figure in Venezuela, revered by legions even as others accused him of repressing dissenting voices and turning over once independent institutions to partisan loyalists.
