Venezuela’s presidential election campaigns to replace Hugo Chavez have formally begun, with interim President Nicolas Maduro vowing to continue the social reform program of the late president.
On Tuesday, Maduro visited Chavez’s childhood home in Sabaneta de Barinas in the west of the country and asked the ruling party supporters for their vote in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled to be held on April 14.
“We are here to make a commitment to the land where he was born: we will not let the people down and we will go the last consequences in order to build socialism,” Maduro told the crowd.
“In homage and in honor of our commander there is but one destiny: Victory, the victory of the Venezuelan people against the forces of evil, against the forces of darkness,” he added.
After the first events in Barinas state, Maduro will follow the route Chavez travelled during the last presidential campaign six months ago.
Maduro, 50, became Venezuela’s acting president on March 8, following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who lost a two-year battle with cancer on March 5.
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda state who lost the presidential election to Chavez in October, will begin his campaign in Monagas state.
Polls suggest that Maduro has a lead of 14 points over Capriles, with the remaining five candidates for the presidency trailing way behind.