On August 25, millions of Venezuelans took to the polls to decide which local projects would receive government funding in the year’s second National Popular Consultation. The first consultation took place, with ample participation, in April 2024.
Sunday’s vote was held across 4,505 communal circuits throughout Venezuela. Venezuelanalysis and photographer Rome Arrieche documented the selection process at El Panal, a robust urban commune in the working-class 23 de Enero barrio.
El Panal’s polling center in the Gabriela Mistral School opened its doors in the early hours of the day. Upon arrival, communards were greeted by an information board detailing each of the projects that the community had previously selected in an open assembly.
Voters could choose among seven projects: acquiring equipment for communal events (chairs, tables, sound systems, etc.), establishing a communal veterinary center, installing CCTV cameras for communal security, purchasing garbage containers, creating a brigade for construction and maintenance work, repairing staircases and sidewalks, and setting up an internet center.
Throughout the day, steady lines of voters filled the polling center. Despite the high turnout, the voting process was efficient and participants voiced their support for the National Popular Consultation initiative promoted by the Nicolás Maduro government.
After the polls closed at 7:30 PM, an electoral commission composed of communal spokespeople convened to count the ballots. By 8:45 PM, Orly Ortiz, El Panal’s education spokesperson, announced the results to those gathered outside the polling station. Among the seven projects on the ballot, more than half of the voters had chosen to fund repair works for staircases and sidewalks.
During the closing remarks, Anacaona Marín, spokesperson of El Panal Commune and member of the Alexis Vive Patriotic Force, said that the consultation was “a space to continue strengthening the commune and to promote self-government in the territory with popular power in its epicenter.”
As the day drew to a close, those gathered at the Gabriela Mistral Polling Center embraced one another with emotion and shouted “¡Viva Chávez!” (Long Live Chávez!) and “¡Comuna o Nada!” (Commune or Nothing!).
