Venezuelans go to go to the polls today to vote in the country's deeply controversial Presidential election.
Venezuela's main opposition coalition is boycotting the poll, calling it a farce aimed at legitimising the "dictatorship" of President Nicolas Maduro.
But the 55-year-old leader has said Venezuela's election system is the cleanest in the world.
The United Socialist Party (PSUV) has been in power for 18 years. The opposition accuse it of eroding Venezuela's democratic institutions and mismanaging its economy. But PSUV supporters say it has used the country's oil riches to reduce inequality and lift many Venezuelans out of poverty.
Two of the country's most popular opposition figures, Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles, have been barred from standing in this weekend's election.
Mr Lopez is under house arrest accused of fomenting violence in anti-Maduro demonstrations in 2014, while Mr Capriles is prohibited from holding office on a charge of "administrative irregularities" when he was a state governor.
Both men say the accusations are fabricated.
Critics say the country's political institutions, its election board and courts, lean heavily toward the government, and that President Maduro unfairly benefits from state giveaways to voters.
The Lima Group of largely Latin American nations has urged the Venezuelan government to suspend the presidential election, calling the process "illegitimate and lacking in credibility."
But President Maduro says the United States and its "lackeys" in the region, want to topple socialism in Venezuela in order to take control of its oil. It's accused Washington of waging an "economic war" against him.
Venezuela, was once the richest country in South America, but is now facing one of the worst economic crisis in modern times, according to the International Monetary Fund.
It suffers from severe shortages of food and medicine, hyper-inflation and a mass exodus of its citizens to neighbouring countries.
President Maduro has vowed to make great changes" if re-elected this weekend, and he is expected to comfortably win the vote.
Many analysts say that Venezuelans have lost interest and hope in politics after the government crushed popular street protests last year.
And that most now are simply concentrating on getting enough basic necessities to survive.
