Maduro Set to Win Vote He Forced. The Likely Loser: Venezuela

Venezuelan elections used to be a month-long party. In 2013, almost-daily rallies drew raucous crowds that filled city blocks. Campaign anthems boomed across the airwaves while activists blanketed the streets with fliers and graffiti.

Oil was trading at over $100 a barrel and Venezuela’s bonds sold for more than 100 cents on the dollar -- a petro-state riding the boom that ensured President Nicolas Maduro’s victory. But three days before this Sunday’s presidential contest, oil is near $67 a barrel, billions of dollars worth of bonds are in default and there is a grim resignation that Maduro is gambling what remains of the economy with a vote widely presumed to be rigged.