Venezuela’s 2025 Elections, Electoral Safeguards and Constitutional Reform: A Conversation with Oliver Rivas

Oliver Rivas is a longtime grassroots activist and National Assembly deputy since 2021. In this interview, he explains the participatory process behind the PSUV’s 2025 candidacies for governors as well as seats on the state-level legislative councils and National Assembly. He also analyzes how the new Simón Bolívar Law safeguards Venezuela’s electoral system, and explains why the upcoming constitutional reform could represent an important step in the construction of communal socialism.

The upcoming May 25 elections for legislative positions and governors are on the horizon. The candidates were chosen through a two-month process involving the participation of the Socialist Party [PSUV] bases. Could you give us a quick overview of how that process took place?

As outlined by President Nicolás Maduro and the leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela [PSUV], the process of choosing the candidates was a hybrid one because it combined grassroots participation, not just from the PSUV, but also from the broader front of the Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole [Chavista parties block]. Open assemblies were held in every barrio across the country in March. In the assemblies, people nominated those they saw fit for top leadership roles at state-level legislative councils, as governors, or as National Assembly deputies.

These nominations were then complemented by polls, evaluation processes, and tactical assessments conducted by the party’s leadership. Finally, after determining who was most suitable for each post, the PSUV submitted its candidates to the National Electoral Council [CNE]. The process was, as I said, hybrid in nature but highly participative.

Interestingly, this process hasn’t had the corrosive effect that primaries or internal elections had in the past. Instead, it helped build unity within the Great Patriotic Pole, which shows that it’s been an effective method for generating legitimacy within the rank and file.

The 2024 presidential elections were followed by a violent extreme-right insurrection. Now, however, a new factor that may help maintain peace in the context of the upcoming elections: the Simón Bolívar Law. What can you tell us about it?

The Simón Bolívar Law is the Republic’s legislative response to the violent situation that occurred around July 28. The law bars fascist and foreign-backed actors—those that have repeatedly attempted to delegitimize Venezuela’s electoral systems—from running for office.

What happened after July 28 came as no surprise to us, but we can’t plunge the country into such challenging circumstances once again. When it comes to US-backed actors, we are up against a movement that has never respected institutional channels. 

What is surprising is that they’ve managed to construct a narrative that, over the years, has become normalized in the mainstream media. The libretto is simple: challenge all Chavista victories, even when, over the past 25 years, we have also admitted our defeats, such as the one that occurred in the 2015 parliamentary elections, which was, of course, recognized by the CNE.  

In short, the US-linked extreme right has consistently tried to frame Venezuela’s electoral system as fraudulent, and the Simón Bolívar Law ensures that these forces cannot participate in elections. The text empowers the justice system to block any attempt to use Venezuelan institutions as vehicles for legitimizing insurrections and foreign-backed coups.

In the context of the July 28 elections, these actors even published so-called exit polls, just as happened in Bolivia in 2019. They set up internet platforms shortly before the elections to eventually release so-called “tally sheets,” seeking to undermine the CNE’s authority and the legitimacy of Venezuela’s democracy as a whole.

Despite this, democracy in Venezuela is vibrant: electoral participation is real and consistent with constitutional mandates. The elections this year are simply part of our democratic cycle, and they don’t require approval from any foreign entities.

In short, the US-aligned bloc can’t field candidates because they didn’t follow the processes established by Venezuelan law in the context of the 2024 presidential elections. 

That’s right. They are effectively banned from participating because they are considered anti-national forces. 

The purpose of the law is to safeguard the electoral system and national institutions from Trojan horses promoted by the United States, as happened with Edmundo González and his boss, María Corina Machado. Even though Machado wasn’t officially a candidate, she played a key role in promoting this anti-national political option. The bloc they represent is not going to the polls.

Does this mean that there are no opposition forces taking part in the upcoming elections?

Not at all. What it means is that these particular actors—those who have overtly aligned with foreign powers—cannot participate. But the spectrum of candidates remains broad. There are plenty of right-wing figures in the race, but they recognize Venezuela’s electoral system.

Opposition figures such as Henrique Capriles Radonski, Chúo Torrealba, and Vladimir Villegas are now backing centrist or moderate opposition candidates in these elections. These people aren’t Washington operatives, and their involvement helps strengthen democracy. 

Ironically, these figures [Capriles, Torrealba, and Villegas] now claiming to defend democracy by promoting those candidacies, have questioned our electoral system in the past. That contradiction is there for all to see, but we will always welcome those who are up to participating within the rules established by Venezuela’s law. 

Ultimately, the people will determine what support those candidates have.

When we talk about Venezuelan democracy, we can’t limit ourselves to the narrow constraints of liberal democracy. Beyond the sphere of representative democracy, there are also vibrant forms of direct democracy in the community councils and communes. Could you tell us something about the upcoming constitutional reform called for by President Maduro? We suspect and hope that the commune will be reflected in the reform. 

Of all the political processes planned for this year, the most ambitious and substantial one is the constitutional reform. The May 25 elections are important, but the reform is the most advanced political proposal on the table, precisely because it ought to introduce the commune into the constitutional text.

Since 2024, the president has promoted a series of popular consultations that open the door to more direct forms of decision-making. Consultations are not about the election of individuals for posts of representation; they are about determining collective priorities from below. 

The consultations institutionalize a new practice: the communalization of public policy. In the process, communities set priorities rather than passively receiving resources, while they are also empowered to shape the agendas of municipal and regional governments as well as ministries.

This move towards centering the communes defines the upcoming constitutional reform process. The process will promote a national debate about the kind of state we want. We already have a definition for our state: a democratic, social, law-based, and just state, as stated in the preamble of the 1999 Constitution. This reform seeks to strengthen that vision and take decisive steps away from the bourgeois state structure that we inherited.

It’s important to highlight, however, that the current Constitution not only lays the groundwork for a “social” state, but also explicitly references “communal enterprises” in Article 184. Additionally, Article 70 recognizes diverse forms of participation, including “self-management” (autogestión) and “co-management.”

The constitutional reform will center the communal elements while overcoming the relics inherited from the bourgeois state. I think the renewed text will put the state at the service of the majority and enable more mechanisms for direct democracy. 

For us, that is the most democratic path forward. Direct democracy is Chavismo’s real strategy for building communal socialism.

As a long-time grassroots activist, can you give us your perspective on the current moment in Venezuela?

We’re entering this new period with a lot of hope and many expectations. It’s an opportunity to re-politicize popular forces by encouraging debate about what kind of society we want to build.

We see the construction of democracy from below beginning to bloom in communes. That is precisely the strategic path that Chávez outlined in the 2012 “Homeland Plan.” There, he called for a “new sociality” [nueva socialidad], for a way of living that resists and transcends capitalism in everyday life. Strengthening this new sociality is a major challenge. It is also the only way forward if we want to avoid diluting the fundamental aims of the Chavista and Bolivarian project in the face of imperialist threats and pressure from global capitalism. 

In this context, the commune is a space of convergence and synthesis for the working class. Whether it’s the struggle for housing or education, for production or services, all these demands find a place in the commune. 

To give you an example, the president recently requested that the Ministry for Communes lead the construction of housing for over three million families. This is a sign of trust in self-managed and community-led models. Why are we going in that direction? Because communal processes have proven more efficient and grounded than traditional state mechanisms.

Every sector in our society has a stake in realizing its objectives through the communal path. That, for us, is what matters most today!