Great Patriotic Pole
The Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole is a left-wing socialist electoral alliance/popular front of Venezuelan political parties created in 2012 to support the re-election of Hugo Chávez in the 2012 presidential election.
The organisation, which "formally unites 35,000 Venezuelan movements and collectives", is led by Nicolás Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Although the coalition shares a name with the "Sovereign Front" of the 1998 presidential election, the 1998 coalition was one of political parties, and did not include the wide range of social movements and community organisations involved in the GPP. For example, in Mérida state the GPP includes "ovements such as the Tupamaros, the Educational Community Socialist Front, the Frebin, the student movement Community Integration, the comrades in the rural workers front- the Campesino Front Ezequiel Zamora, the popular educators network, the Women’s Bicentennial Front, and... Tatuy TV".
A member of the regional promoter team of the GPP in Mérida state said in February 2012:
in order to form the GPP, there are a range of stages to go through. The first stage was the formation of the national promoter team, which was sworn in and approved by the president. It is made up of 153 comrades, spokespeople of different collectives at a national level. That stage ended with the national registration in October 2011. Next came the second stage of regrouping, which are the ongoing meetings of all the collectives registered in the GPP. After that, which is where we are at now, comes the stage of carrying out the popular assemblies of the GPP. These are where the planning, decision making, and debating of all those participating in the GPP takes place. Finally, there is a last stage, which consists of the national congress, or the national popular assembly, with President Chavez. That will be held on 13 April this year and it’s where the new proposals for the national organisation will be discussed and voted on.
Members
The GPP is currently composed of the following political parties:| Party | Spanish name | Ideology | National Assembly | Government |
| United Socialist Party of Venezuela | Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela | Chavismo Bolivarianism Socialism of the 21st century | ||
| Communist Party of Venezuela | Partido Comunista de Venezuela | Communism | ||
| Fatherland for All | Patria para Todos | |||
| Revolutionary Movement Tupamaro | Movimiento Revolucionario Tupamaro | Revolutionary socialism | ||
| We Can | Podemos | Social Democracy | ||
| Republican Bicentennial Vanguard | Vanguardia Bicentenaria Republicana | Bolivarianism | ||
| Venezuelan Popular Unity | Unidad Popular Venezolana | Anti-imperialism | ||
| Alliance for Change | Alianza para el Cambio | Social democracy | ||
| People's Electoral Movement | Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo | Left-wing populism | ||
| Organized Socialist Party in Venezuela | Partido Socialista Organizado en Venezuela | Democratic socialism | ||
| Movement We Are Venezuela | Movimiento Somos Venezuela | Left-wing nationalism | ||
| Networks Party | Partido Redes | Chavismo | ||
| Authentic Renewal Organization | Organización Renovadora –Auténtica | Social conservatism | ||
| Corrientes Revolucionarias Venezolanas | Communism |
The following parties are not members however support the GPP politically:
- Revolutionary Middle Class
- Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela
- Worker's Party
Election results