Nicolas Maduro
- Interim president, Hugo Chavez's chosen successor
- Former foreign minister
- Was a member of assembly that drafted a new constitution after Chavez's 1998 election
- Campaigned for Mr. Chavez's release from prison in the 1990s
-
50 years old, former bus driver
Henrique Capriles
- Lost 2012 presidential election to Hugo Chavez
- Governor of Venezuela's second-most populous state, Miranda
- Jailed in 2002 for fomenting a protest near the Cuban Embassy, later acquitted
- Was Venezuela's youngest legislator 40 years old