VENEZUELAN president Nicolas Maduro seems set to secure a second six-year term in national elections, despite a deepening crisis which has made food scarce and seen inflation soar.

More than a million Venezuelans have abandoned their country in recent years as oil production in the once wealthy nation plummets.

Those who have stayed behind wait in line for hours to buy subsidised food and withdraw cash which is almost impossible to find.

While polls show Venezuelans overwhelmingly blame Maduro for their mounting troubles, he is still heavily favoured to win thanks to a boycott of the election by his main rivals amid huge distrust of the nation’s electoral council, which is controlled by government loyalists.

The election has drawn broad criticism after some of Maduro’s most popular rivals were barred from running or forced into exile.

Maduro ended his campaign on Thursday dancing on stage before a cheering crowd in Caracas while blaming Venezuela’s increasingly dire outlook on a US-orchestrated “economic war”.

“I extend my hands to all Venezuelans so that we can move forward together with love and take back our homeland,” said Maduro, the hand-picked successor to late president Hugo Chavez, who launched Venezuela’s leftist revolution.

“I have seen the future of Venezuela and a historic victory awaits us.”