* Accusations, insults fly at start of race * Crowds still mourn late President Hugo Chavez * Acting President Maduro favorite for April 14 vote (Adds fresh Capriles quotes, Globovision accepting buyout offer) By Andrew Cawthorne and Mario Naranjo CARACAS, March 11 (Reuters) - Presidential candidates Nicolas Maduro and Henrique Capriles have begun Venezuela's election race with scathing personal attacks even as mourners still file past Hugo Chavez's coffin.

In death as in life, Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez is courting his political base after the government announced plans to embalm the firebrand leftist leader "like Lenin." His embalmed remains are coming soon to permanent display in an old military barracks-turned-museum atop a hillside slum, a huge source of local pride. Residents of the very humble "January 23" neighborhood -- where orange, yellow and blue cinderblock and tin-roof houses are precariously perched on picturesque steep slopes -- could not be more pleased to welcome a hero home.

Venezuelan political parties begin registering candidates Sunday for a snap election on April 14, setting the stage for a bruising campaign to succeed the late president Hugo Chavez. The national electoral council set the poll date on Saturday one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting president in a ceremony largely boycotted by the opposition, which slammed it as unconstitutional.

Venezuela marched Saturday toward bitter elections to succeed Hugo Chavez after his political heir took power in a move disputed by the opposition following the leftist leader's death. The "most likely" date for the election is April 14, a source in the national electoral council told AFP before the panel was due to meet to make a decision. The meeting comes one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting leader in a ceremony largely boycotted by the opposition, branding the move unconstitutional.