CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelans will vote April 14 to choose a successor to Hugo Chavez, the elections commission announced Saturday as increasingly strident political rhetoric began to roil the polarized country.

The constitution mandated the election be held within 30 days of Chavez’s March 5 death, but the date picked falls outside that period. Critics of the socialist government already complained that officials violated the law by swearing in Vice President Nicolas Maduro as acting leader Friday night.

The opposition has denounced the transition as an unconstitutional power grab, while the government moves to immortalize Chavez.