On August 25, elections were held again in Venezuela. However it was not a repetition of the presidential elections, as suggested by Presidents Biden, Petro, and Lula. This time, 4,500 communes of the Caribbean country went to the polls to choose from 24,000 projects related to roads, electricity, sports, drinking water, gas, housing, health, education, environment, productive units, public transportation, and many other social development initiatives, in what is known as the Second National Popular Consultation.
Each commune chose one of seven projects proposed by the popular assemblies of each communal council. Everyone over 15 years of age was called to vote. In addition, the process was observed by international monitors, who declared that the electoral process was carried out without issues.
In this regard, the Minister of Communes and Social Movements, Ángel Prado, himself a member of the El Maizal commune, stated that “the people have full confidence that [at the end of the election day] the popular act will be shown, and this week the communes will have the [economic] resources [to finance the elected projects]…This is the democracy that the world needs.” He also said: “This is the face of our true democracy, the popular socialist democracy.”
For the Venezuelan authorities, as well as for thousands of community members, this election is of historical importance, as it marks the beginning of a new stage in the construction of a political-economic system in Venezuela, based on direct democracy and the Commune System, as mandated by the country’s constitution.
What is the Commune System?
During Hugo Chavez’s second presidential term, the Commune System was created, and a territorialization of politics was proposed. This initiative seeks to have the thousands of socio-productive units across the country democratically agree on which types of social projects should be carried out in their region in a cooperative manner. For this reason, Chavez created the Ministry for Communes and Social Movements, with the hope that this project, which seeks to transform the very structure of the State, would become a reality.
Indeed, this type of territorial organization is intended as an alternative to liberal democracy and the promotion of business and social initiatives driven almost exclusively by individual interests. In contrast, the Commune System seeks to create a form of popular will that can transform the communes according to the decisions and needs of the inhabitants of each locality.
In this context, it seeks to promote an alternative form of democracy, specifically a popular and direct democracy, where the members of the localities themselves will elaborate and forge the projects that must be financed by the central State. According to Secretary Prado, the economic resources will be transferred by Wednesday, August 28, and the projects will be administered by the communes themselves. In this way, under the proposed model, the Venezuelan State would begin to operate from the bottom up, rather than the top down, as is typical in most modern states.
