[NYTr] RHC Analysis: 2007 - Cuban Elections

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/portada.htm

Analysis

2007 Annual Report: Cuban Elections

General elections were called this year in Cuba. The process began in
September and will not conclude until early next year. As part of our
series of end of year round-ups, we bring you a summary of the key
events so far in the Cuban elections process.

Called in early July by the First Vice President, Raul Castro, the
electoral process that over 8 million Cubans have taken part in will
close in December, with over half of the process complete. The country
now awaits January 20th, when polls open for the second time.

During the first stage, from the call for elections to the formation of
the People's Power Assemblies in the country's 169 municipalities, the
elections were marked by the active participation of the Cuban people.

Around half a million men and women were appointed to carry out
different tasks such as forming the local electoral authorities across
the nation, leading and validating the electoral process, and sitting
on Candidacy Commissions, which were formed to compile the lists of
nominations for the higher bodies of the People's Power system.

The electoral commissions started their work at the neighbourhood
nomination meetings around the country, where local communities
nominated candidates from among themselves, people the community
considered to have the right merits to represent them on Municipal
Assemblies.

That stage concluded on October 21st, when 15 236 delegates were
elected in free, secret and direct ballots by citizens of voting age.
96,49% of voters turned out at the polls. Elected candidates took their
positions on November 16th, when the People's Power Assemblies from 169
municipalities of the country were constituted.

The creation of the new municipal assemblies closed the first stage of
the general elections, leaving everything in place for the next phase
which is still in process. The municipal authorities then held an
extraordinary session on December 2nd to nominate the candidates for
deputies and delegates of the Provincial Assemblies, following
proposals put forward by the respective candidacy commissions.

And as expected, the Provincial Assembly of Santiago de Cuba nominated
the Cuban president, Fidel Castro, as candidate for deputy, to
represent the Jose Marti district while the municipality of Segundo
Frente took a similar decision electing the first Vice-president, Raul
Castro. Other historic leaders of the Revolution appeared on the list
of candidates together with representatives from all professional
sectors and different generations.

The nomination phase concluded a process of more than 4 months, in
which the main social organizations of the island submitted more than
55 thousand proposals to the candidacy commissions. The commissions had
to bear in mind among other aspects that half of the candidates should
be grassroots delegates with characteristics that reflect Cuban society.

"We undertook an arduous series of consultations, because in our
country there are so many valuable people, equally qualified," said
Amarilys Perez Santana, president of the National Candidacy Commission,
about the task of compiling the lists of nominees.

"It's been an arduous process to get to this point," she told Radio
Habana Cuba. "But here too the top priority has been the right
composition. The National Assembly has to be representative of all the
merits of the people themselves, so there are students, production
workers, education workers, workers from the services, farmers,
scientists, intellectuals, soldiers, leaders of mass organisations.
There's an important representation of women and young people, and the
skin colour of candidates also reflects our society."

The candidates presented by the Candidacy Commissions were approved by
municipal delegates on December 2nd. The President of the Cuban
Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, stated that the unity most of the
Assemblies manifested that day had arisen from the broad process of
consultations and discussions that preceded the meetings, as well as
the unity of the people and their confidence in their institutions.

After their nomination, the 164 deputy candidates and 1 201 provincial
delegate candidates started to visit rural communities, social
institutions, military facilities and educational centers in their
local areas, where they were nominated. This exchange with the people,
combined with public displays of the candidates' pictures and
biographies, constituted the only propaganda allowed by Cuban electoral
law, for the electorate to get to know their candidates.

That same legislation forbids any kind of manifestation or
campaign-style behavior in favor of any candidate-the kind of
campaigning which characterizes the electoral processes in the so
called representative democracies.

In Cuba the vote is freely exercised and the voters are guided by the
candidate's merits, capability and competence. Money and political and
business interests have no place in the Cuban electoral process. It is
the people who decide by voting in direct, secret and free ballots.
Maybe these characteristics explain the large turn-out at the polls, a
turn-out which differentiates the Cuban elections from those of the
rest of the world and is sure to be repeated on January 20th.