Venezuela's acting president leads latest poll

CARACAS - With the presidential election less than two weeks away, Venezuelan Acting President Nicolas Maduro led opposition leader Henrique Capriles by 20 percent in latest polls.

According to results released Monday by local pollster company Hinterlaces, Maduro, late President Hugo Chavez's political heir, would get 55 percent of the vote against 35 percent for Capriles, who was defeated by Chavez in last year's election.

Venezuela's acting President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro holds a copy of the Venezuelan constitution as he speaks during a ceremony with students in Caracas, April 1, 2013. Venezuelans will vote in the presidential elections on April 14. [Photo/Agencies]

Asked about their projection of the two candidates' winning chances,  61 percent people chose Maduro and only 22 percent opted for Capriles.

The survey, conducted in March among 1,100 people across the country, has a 3-percent margin of error, the company said.

The official pollster GIS XXI on Monday released a similar poll result, predicting that Maduro would win the election with 55.3 percent of the vote.

Another survey, also conducted by the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis in March, showed that 53.8 percent of the 1,200 respondents would vote for Maduro, compared with 30.8 percent for Capriles.

The presidential election campaign will officially begin on Tuesday. Maduro will start his campaign in the state of Barinas, Chavez's birthplace, in honor of the late leader, while Capriles will start in Maturin in the state of Monagas.