Venezuela, Elections | featured news

A presidential election to replace late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez will be held on 14 April, the country's electoral commission says.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Sobbing and shouting, a sea of Hugo Chavez's supporters paraded his coffin through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday in an emotional outpouring that could help his deputy win an election to keep his socialist revolution alive.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected Sunday to a new six-year term, overcoming an energetic challenge by a candidate backed by an opposition coalition, according to results announced by election officials.

A couple on a motorcycle fired shots into a bus carrying Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado and her supporters Saturday, a campaign spokesman told CNN en Español.

Venezuelans vote in a parliamentary election on Sunday with President Hugo Chavez expected to keep control of the National Assembly in a poll testing his support ahead of a presidential ballot in 2012.

President Hugo Chavez holds a slim lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's referendum, which would allow him to run for re-election, but many Venezuelans remain undecided how to vote, pollsters said.