Caracas, Feb 28 (RHC)-- Venezuelan opposition leader Henri Falcon on Tuesday registered his candidacy to run against President Nicolas Maduro in the presidential elections slated for April 22nd.

Falcon, who announced his candidacy on state television, will run defying a call by a coalition of opposition parties to boycott the polls, they describe as a "fraudulent, and illegitimate" process.

Falcon was the governor of Lara state between 2000 and 2008, representing the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela. He was an early supporter of former President Hugo Chavez.

But in 2009 he parted from the socialist movement over the Venezuelan Constitutional Referendum, and joined the opposition.

Tuesday was the deadline for the registration of candidates for the presidential elections. The process of acceptance or rejection of contenders will continue until Thursday, and on March 5 the electoral authority will announce the position they will have on the ballot.

On Tuesday president Maduro also formally registered his candidacy at the national election board in Caracas before joining a rally of supporters and the leadership of 10 political parties that have proclaimed him as their candidate for the elections.

“I will be loyal to the legacy of the giant Hugo Chavez!” he said.

Before Falcon’s announcement, Maduro faced Reinaldo Quijada of the '89' Popular Political Unity movement and evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci, the leader of the Maranatha Pentecostal Church. According to the electoral authority, six candidates have registered their candidacies.