Venezuelan Communes Participate in the Second National Popular Consultation

Venezuelan citizens in the first national popular consultation, 2024. Photo: X/ @Sunacoop_VE

August 25, 2024 Hour: 8:33 am

This new form of governance is based on the debureaucratization of the state and direct participation of citizens.

On Sunday, Venezuela is holding the second National Popular Consultation as part of the construction of a new state based on popular power.

From 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, citizens aged 15 and older will be able to exercise their right to vote in order to select prioritized projects for communal development.

Angel Prado, the Minister of Communes and Social Movements, explained that people nominate “seven projects to be voted on Sunday. The project with the most votes will receive the funding for implementation in the short term.”

In the weeks leading up to the vote, citizens have proposed 27,420 projects in 4,505 communal circuits. These projects are related to water, education, electricity, and road infrastructure, among other areas.

During the electoral process, the heads of the Hugo Chavez Battle Units (UBCH) will be responsible for the voting centers, where citizens from the communal councils will act as witnesses to the process.

People’s movements and organizations from around the world are in Venezuela now to observe the Communes vote on major development projects. This is what real democracy looks like! https://t.co/B6cjNXHlNM
— The People's Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) August 24, 2024

The text reads, “Our brother Manolo Realengo and a group of young Americans are in Venezuela accompanying the Second National Popular Consultation.”

A similar exercise of direct participatory democracy took place on April 21, when citizens also selected local development projects. Minister Prado assured that almost 60 percent of the communal projects approved in that first consultation have already been completed.

“We would need to travel to the depths of Venezuela to see the happy faces of the people who have gained access to public services that had been lacking for years, especially during this tough economic situation in the country, after we stopped having massive transfers to the communal councils, and have managed to solve specific issues related to water services, health, and agricultural roads,” he said.

The local development projects approved in the popular consultations are funded by the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, who announced that four popular consultations will be held each year.

The Bolivarian authorities have called on citizens to vote to consolidate a new form of governance based on the debureaucratization of the state and the direct participation of citizens.