Podcast: Look Beyond Venezuela's Elections On May 20

President Nicolás Maduro is expected to win another term in an election criticized for lack of democratic and transparency guarantees. 

Obstacles to a free election have been in place for months, including the fact that main opposition parties are barred from participating, and there is a lack of electoral software auditing, a rushed registration period, and lack of indelible ink to prevent multiple voting, according to Geoff Ramsay's Q&A.

There is an ongoing debate on whether to vote or not among government opposers, and several countries have said they will not recognize the results.

As the deck is rigged and a Maduro victory is likely, the Latin America In Focus podcast takes a sanguine view on how this electoral process is only mildly important, next to the structural shifts currently underway. Maduro can’t hold on to power forever, explains Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez: He isn't liked enough by the people, and the country is losing revenue from its collapsing oil industry, and as debt piles up while big companies close their operations.

As the crisis continues to unfold, Lansberg also says, we should start thinking about the "reconstruction", following the fall of a Maduro regime: "The recovery will be quicker and more robust than many expect, due in no small part to a highly educated, entrepreneurial middle-class diaspora". But the key task is to have them involved and engaged.