Venezuela sets post-Chavez election for April 14

CARACAS: Venezuelan political parties begin registering candidates for a snap election on April 14, setting the stage for a bruising campaign to succeed the late president Hugo Chavez.

The national electoral council set the poll date on Saturday 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.