Henrique Capriles, a center-left state governor, on Sunday decisively won Venezuela's first opposition primary to take on longtime President Hugo Chavez in an October election, vote officials said.

"With 95 percent of votes counted, Capriles won 1.8 million votes" ahead of his closest competitor, governor Pablo Perez, with 867,000 votes, commission president Teresa Albanes said, noting that 2.9 million votes were cast.