Above photo: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro visits the Simon Bolivar Socialist Commune in the 23 the Enero parish of Caracas on Nov. 27, 2025. Venezuelan Presidential Press.
Hails Direct And Real Democracy.
President Nicolás Maduro visited the Simón Bolívar Socialist Commune in Caracas’s 23 de Enero parish Thursday, where he praised Venezuela’s communal democracy as direct and real and called for a new electoral system rooted in the communes.
He announced that “starting with the next popular consultation, in addition to the prizes for the most active communes, the most-voted communal circuit in each state will automatically have all seven projects submitted by the community approved”—meaning they will receive state funding.
The new incentive aims to boost turnout and recognize communes demonstrating greater transparency and community involvement in selecting and prioritizing projects. The announcement follows Wednesday’s report that a record 6.5 million people participated in the Nov. 23 popular consultation.
As part of the electoral reform effort, Maduro tasked a national team of communal and communal circuit leaders with presenting him a proposal for a commune-based electoral system within 72 hours. He assigned Communes Minister Ángel Prado to coordinate the effort.
“And let the people decide where their polling stations will be,” the president added.
Maduro also said that if legal changes are needed to implement the reforms, Chavismo’s majority in the National Assembly is ready to pass them—indicating he does not plan to wait for a constitutional reform to overhaul the electoral framework.
Earlier this year, the president proposed constitutional reforms in this direction, but analysts say the unprecedented US regime-change operation against his government has delayed the process.
Commune as the ‘brain of the new democracy’
For Maduro, the commune is the “brain of the new democracy,”—a model that operates without intermediaries or elites, emerges from the grassroots, and stands in opposition to bourgeois or minority rule.
“Anyone who wants to know a model of direct, true democracy—where the humble man, the humble woman, has both conscience and power—should come to Venezuela to learn about it,” he said.
During his tour, Legna Serrano, coordinator of the commune’s self-government room, highlighted its operational capacity and self-management initiatives, including the social production enterprise Obreros del Alba, which employs skilled blacksmiths and plumbers.
Her remarks underscored how communities are building real tools, such as social enterprises, popular consultations and justices of the peace to exercise self-governance and solve local problems from the ground up.
