The map of Venezuela was dyed red again on the night of November 21, 2021. The Polo Patriótico won 19 of the 23 states plus the Mayor's Office of Caracas. A triumph that allows the revolutionary forces to continue ruling in most of the national territory, which is no small thing in the framework of an unconventional and multidimensional war declared by imperialism against the Venezuelan people. The political factors of the opposition did, as always, part of the work to the revolutionary forces with their deep divisions, as well as the discontent of their followers at the buffoonery of Juan Guaidó, his supposed "interim" government and the misappropriation of our assets.
Now, it is necessary to make an additional reading of the electoral results by the Polo Patriótico and the revolutionary forces in general. And it is that the very nature of these elections (regional and municipal) that divides the contest into 23 states and 335 mayoralties allowed this political force to win the majority of the states and municipalities despite obtaining 45,7% of the votes. , that is, less than half, a percentage that is very important in the context of elections of another nature, specifically national, read possible recall referendum of the president where the options are “yes or no”, or presidential elections, generally polarized.
Conscientiously and critically self-reading abstention is a necessary task, which happens, first by recognizing that there was a relatively high abstention, and then by identifying its causes, especially in a scenario in which, unlike other elections, the political factors of The opposition called on their followers to vote and not to abstain. Analyzing in detail and critically the causes of these results is also necessary.
Silence is also a message
The appropriate thing is to compare the abstention of electoral processes of the same nature, that is, regional with regional or presidential with presidential because the motivation to vote and the cost of voting for voters are different between processes of different nature.
According to data from the National Electoral Council (CNE), abstention in the 2017 gubernatorial elections was 38,93% and participation 61,07% with respect to the electoral roll, results that we contrast with abstention of 57,74% and one 42,26% participation in the recent elections. Participation fell 18,81 percentage points.
In 2017, 11.441.497 voters voted, while in 2021 8.659.996 turned out (despite the fact that the electoral roll increased by 1.189.134 of new voters: in 2017 it was 19.740.853 and in 2021 there were 20.929.987). In other words and in absolute terms, 2021 fewer voters turned out in 2.781.501. This difference is equivalent to 24% of the voters with respect to those who exercised their right to vote in 2017. What were the reasons why these people decided not to demonstrate is a reading that should be carried out by the revolutionary forces.
As well as the fact that, according to data from the CNE, in the regional elections of 2017 the Polo Patriótico obtained 6.126.525 votes and in 2021 3.953.646 were counted (the votes of the Barinas state are not included in neither case). In other words, the revolutionary forces obtained 2.172.879 fewer, which is equivalent to 35% of the votes in 2017. We highlight the fact that, while the total votes in 2021 were 24% less than in 2017, those of the Patriotic Pole were 35% less compared to 2017. This figure should draw attention to the revolutionary forces.
Deciphering the causes
The blockage of the heart and mind, indolence, incapacity, corruption, inefficiency on the part of some governing leaders, mayors and ministers who have distanced themselves from the people are some of the causes of abstention and the loss of 2.172.879. 21 votes of the revolution on November XNUMX. For the record, I am not saying it, it was said by the President of the Republic Nicolás Maduro and president of the PSUV. I'm just paraphrasing what, by the way, I share.
The president also referred to the criminal effects of the imperial blockade whose objective, confessed by the spokesmen of the White House, is to make the Venezuelan people suffer in order to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution. Let us remember the words of William Brownfield in 2018, as well as the objectives and plans signed by the Chief of the Southern Command in the document "Master Coup to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution" of 2018: "Intensify the definitive overthrow of Chavismo, undermine popular support, encourage popular dissatisfaction by increasing the destabilization process. Increase internal instability to critical levels, intensifying the decapitalization of the country, the flight of foreign capital and the deterioration of the national currency, through the application of new inflationary measures that increase this deterioration ”.
Beyond the blockages (the mental of some leaders and the financial one on the part of imperialism) there is another reading that we self-critically suggest should be carried out by the Patriotic Pole. We refer to the response that, from the State, has been given to imperial attacks, for example, the manifest impunity for acts of theft of our assets by opposition political factors while their material perpetrators freely move through our territory, some they even became candidates and others are outside our borders, or for example, the fact that those who incited hatred and the burning of people alive have not paid for their crimes, or for example, the economic policy that, at all lights, not only has it failed to neutralize the effects of the economic war in terms of the deterioration of the living conditions of Venezuelans, but, on the contrary, it has strengthened them within the framework of monetarist paradigms characterized by the decrease of the amount of bolivars and with this the minimization of public spending, including the constitutional amount that goes to the states and municipalities; the freezing of the legal minimum wage and pensions; the liberation of prices and the exchange market, which, in turn, has manifested itself in an increase in inequalities. To this we must add, for example, impunity for indolence, corruption and inefficiency of "revolutionary" leaders, observing on the contrary and in some cases their awarding.
If there is someone who is very clear about the path to independence and dignity, it is the Chavista people, as well as the objectives, plans and actions of imperialism are very clear, it is the same people who, consciously and critically, know how to read the State responses to these imperial attacks, the same people who are aware of not wanting to return to the neoliberal and fascist governments of the Fourth Republic, so much so that they preferred to remain silent before voting against the revolution. The people know what is wrong and why. We trust that the leadership of the revolutionary forces will be able to read the cry of the Bolivarian people, who fell silent and at the same time spoke on November 21.
