PUEBLA, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – Venezuela’s Acting President Nicolas Maduro opened his official Twitter account on Sunday, gaining some 100,000 followers within the first hour.

"Today we have Homeland. Long Live Bolivar! Long Live Chavez!" Maduro wrote in his first message in his profile @ NicolasMaduro.

Before this, Maduro, who previously held the post of Venezuela’s vice-president and whom the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handpicked as his successor shortly before his death, had no social media accounts. Chavez was an active user of his Twitter microblog, which he opened on April 27, 2010.

Earlier on Sunday, Maduro promised to launch social media accounts to communicate actively with his supporters ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections where he is running as the main candidate from the ruling Socialist Party.

Maduro has promised to win the April 14 elections with more than 10 million votes. "Here I am fulfilling the call of the Supreme Commander, assuming his commitment, that we will meet together. Together we are Chavez," Maduro wrote.

Henrique Capriles, Maduro’s chief contender in the presidential poll running from the country’s opposition, has over 2.2 million users of his Twitter microblog.

Updated with details