Army Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who led a 1992 attempted coup, speaks to reporters on March 26, 1994, after he was freed from jail. Chavez was freed after charges were dropped against him for leading the first of two attempted coups against the government of former President Carlos Andres Perez, who was later removed from office.
(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, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena said Saturday.
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Miranda State Gov. Henrique Capriles said later in the day on Twitter he is "very thankful" to be nominated as the main opposition candidate. He said he will speak in the coming hours about whether he'll accept the nomination.
"All agreed that Henrique Capriles is the person to embody the alternative option of change, an alternative for everyone," Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, a leader in the opposition coalition, said Saturday of Capriles' nomination.
Earlier this week, Capriles -- who lost to Chavez in last fall's presidential election -- called Maduro's swearing in "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.
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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.
CNN's Mariano Castillo contributed to this report.
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Venezuelan president-elect Chavez visits Bogota, Colombia, on December 18, 1998. On December 6, Chavez had been elected the youngest president in Venezuela history.
President Chavez greets supporters with his then-wife, Marisabel Rodriguez de Chavez, beside him as he arrives to preside over a parade in his honor on February 4, 1999, in Caracas. Chavez was sworn in as president on February 2.
Chavez inspects military maneuvers of the national Air Force on March 17, 2001, in Catilletes near the border with Colombia. In June 2000, Chavez was re-elected to the presidency for a six-year term, under the new constitution created by his government in 1999.
People try to take shelter from gunshots fired near Altamira Square in Caracas on August 16, 2004. At least three people were wounded by gunshots after Chavez supporters fired on opposition demonstrators, police said. A vote to recall Chavez as president failed on August 15.
Chavez, left, stands in front of supporters with Fidel Castro of Cuba, center, and Evo Morales of Bolivia, right, during a rally at the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, Cuba, on April 29, 2006.
Chavez meets with Pope Benedict XVI at his private library on May 11, 2006, in Vatican City.
Chavez embraces Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, in Tehran, Iran, on July 1, 2007. The two presidents have enjoyed a close relationship and Chavez has referred to Ahmadinejad as his "ideological brother."
Chavez speaks during a rally in Caracas on November 18, 2008. Chavez pushed to change term limits in Venezuela through a referendum that passed on February 15, 2009, clearing the way for him to run for a third six-year term.
Chavez, right, gives a copy of the book, "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano to President Barack Obama during a multilateral meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on April 18, 2009.
Chavez, right, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during his visit to the presidential palace in Caracas on April 2, 2010.
Chavez salutes to the audience after passing a law in Caracas on November 12, 2011. Chavez has undergone several rounds of cancer treatment in Cuba, beginning in 2011.
Chavez participates in a ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 27, 2012.
Chavez, left, jokes with American actor Sean Penn, right, during his visit to Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on February 16, 2012. Penn thanked Chavez for the support given by the Venezuelan government to his nongovernmental organization, which benefits victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Chavez acknowledges supporters on the streets of Caracas while on his way to the airport to travel to Cuba for ongoing cancer treatment on February 24, 2012.
Chavez gestures to the crowd during his closing campaign rally in Caracas on October 4, 2012. The leftist leader won a fourth term on October 7, extending his presidency to 2019.
A handout picture released by the Venezuelan presidential press office on Friday, February 15, 2013, shows Chavez surrounded by his daughters and holding the February 14 edition of the official Cuban newspaper Granma at a hospital in Havana, Cuba.
Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attend an open-air mass in Caracas on February 22.
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