Venezuela is scheduled to hold the presidential election on Sunday. Following are profiles of the two leading candidates.

Incumbent President Hugo Chavez, candidate for the Fifth Republic Movement, was born on July 28, 1954, in Venezuela's Sabaneta. He graduated from Venezuela's military academy in 1975 with a master's degree in military science and art. He also studied politics at Simon Bolivar University from 1989 to 1990.

He led a failed coup as a paratroop officer to topple former President Carlos Andres Perezand in February 1992 and then was jailed for two years until 1994.

In December 1998, Chavez won the presidency with 56 percent of the votes after campaigning for a broad reform, constitutional changes and a crackdown on corruption.

In 1999, he won Venezuelans' approval in a plebiscite of a new constitution that expands executive powers.

He was re-elected to a six-year term under the new constitution with close to 60 percent of the votes in 2000.

On April 11, 2002, he was ousted in a brief coup by business leaders and dissident military officers. On April 14, military troops loyal to Chavez returned him to power.

As a Roman Catholic, he calls Cuban leader Fidel Castro his political father, 19th century Latin American leader Simon Bolivar his mentor and Jesus Christ his inspiration.

Manuel Rosales, candidate for the New Era Coalition, was born on Dec. 12, 1952. He pursued education at the University of the Andes until his father's death, which forced him to drop out at the age of 19 to support the family.

Rosales won his first political post in 1979 as a local government official in Santa Barbara. In 1995 he was elected mayor of Maracaibo, capital city of the western Zulia state, Venezuela's wealthiest state.

He was elected Zulia's governor in 2000 and reelected in 2004. He has stepped down temporarily to run for the presidency. Should he lose Sunday's election, he will return to Zulia and govern the state until 2008.

His campaign promises include a program giving money directly to the poor from oil businesses and seeking to reduce the presidential term from six to four years.

Source: Xinhua