Five lessons from #Venezuela’s election: 1) Maduro's elections are not about creating the illusion of democracy. That ship has sailed. They are an exercise in personnel rotation, a means to reward new loyalists with jobs, and to keep old loyalists nervous about losing theirs.

2) In tough times give loyalists access to power instead. #Venezuela’s cash-strapped Maduro needs to expand the pool of potential jobs he can give out as rewards. That explains why he decided to expand the number of legislature seats this time around to 277, up from 167.

3) #Venezuela's Maduro regime gave few congressional seats to friendly opposition leaders (8.7% of the total) because it feels it is more important to reward party insiders, than it is to throw a bone to former adversaries who chose to align themselves with his regime.

4) #Venezuela’s Maduro will use the new legislature to change old laws to ease the selling or giving in administration of state assets to third parties. Primary beneficiaries? Russian and Chinese companies, as well as wealthy, domestic cronies eager to launder their wealth.

5) #Venezuela’s Maduro will now purge dissenters from his ranks, strengthen allies, weaken the opposition further, and buid strong ties with business leaders willing to engage with him. This will make it viable for him to safely step down, if he should so choose, in 2023.