CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s foreign minister says Vice President Nicolas Maduro will serve as interim president in the wake of Hugo Chavez’s death and that elections will be called within 30 days.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua also told the Telesur network that Maduro would be the candidate of the governing socialist party.

It was not immediately clear when elections would actually be held.

The government said Chavez died Tuesday after a nearly two-year bout with cancer.