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<b>Press Release - New York, 15 January 2008<br>
</b> <br>
<b>DEMOCRATIC ELECTION SYSTEM IN CUBA<br>
General Elections 2007-2008<br><br>
</b> On 20 January 2008, the Cuban people will cast their vote to
elect the members (Deputies) of the National Assembly of People’s Power
(Parliament) and the delegates to the 14 Provincial Assemblies of the
People’s Power. <br><br>
The National Assembly of People’s Power is the supreme body of the
State’s power and the Provincial and Municipal Assemblies are the local
higher bodies of the State’s power. <br>
<br>
More than 41 000 candidate nomination assemblies will be held during the
current election process, in more than 15 000 constituencies of the
country’s 169 municipalities. <br>
<br>
The present election process started with last 21 October’s election of
the delegates to the 169 People’s Power Municipal Assemblies. 8 176
085 electors voted at those elections, for a 96% of register voters.
<br>
<br>
In Cuba, Deputies to the National Assembly and Delegates to the
Provincial Assemblies are elected by the population’s direct and secret
vote for a five (5) years term and elections take place on the same day
in all the national territory. <br>
<br>
The newly elected Deputies elect the Council of State, as well as the
President, First Vice-President and Vice-Presidents of this body, which
is the State’s top representative between Parliament sessions. <br>
<br>
Elections in Cuba are characterized by all the people’s participation,
thus its democratic character is guaranteed. <br>
<br>
The vote is free, equal and secret, and each voter has the right to cast
only one vote. <br>
<br>
For each Cuban, the exercise of the right to vote is an opportunity to
uphold the Homeland’s sovereignty and independence and to contribute to
the people’s unity to consolidate the Revolution against the imperialist
blockade and threats. <br>
<br>
As an ethic standard, the Cuban election process is rid of expensive and
boisterous campaigns. There is no corporatization or a race to raise
funds or privilege public relations firms. None of the candidates
nominated in Cuba run campaigns in their favor or need financial support
to be made known. There are no rallies on squares or streets in favor of
any candidate, nor manifestations, nor cars equipped with loudspeakers or
posters with their picture, nor electoral promises, nor television or
newspaper propaganda for any candidate. <br>
<br>
Cuban men and women elect their candidates on the basis of their personal
values, merits, prestige and their capacity to serve the people, at
resident’s assemblies in neighborhoods, districts or urban or rural
areas. <br>
<br>
The only propaganda is in the hands of the election authorities, and
consists in displaying the biography and picture of each candidate at
public places in the voters’ areas of residence, so that they can have
information on the candidates’ personal facts, prestige and capacity to
serve the people and freely cast their vote for the best. <br>
<br>
The Communist Party of Cuba is not an organization with election
purposes. It does not propose, nominate, promote or support any
candidate. Nor it elects or revokes any of the thousands of men and women
who hold representative posts of the Cuban State. <br>
<br>
The registry of voters is automatic, free and public. All the people have
access to it through its publication in easy-to-access places. <br>
<br>
Voting is not compulsory in Cuba. Nobody has to fear not attending the
ballots on election days or if they choose to slip a blank or void ballot
into the box. <br>
<br>
Polling stations are not guarded by the armed forces, but by school-age
children. Elections take place in a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. <br>
<br>
The vote and counting are public. Vote counting in Cuban elections can be
watched at each polling station by any citizen that so wishes, even by
the national or foreign press. <br>
<br>
In order to be elected Delegate to a Municipal or Provincial Assembly of
the People’s Power, or Deputy to the National Assembly, the candidate
must get more than half of the validly cast votes. <br>
<br>
Those elected are the representatives of their electors, that is, of the
people in general, of which they are also part. The democratic exercise
of the people does not end in the election process. It is the people who
control their representatives’ work, for the latter have a systematic
accountability for their work. The people participate with their
representatives in the People’s Power bodies’ decision-making process and
in the activities carried out by NGOs that make up the civil society. In
this regard, all those elected can be revoked by their electors at any
time of the term. <br>
<br>
Cuba does not purport to lecture or suggest models, yet it proudly
upholds its system of genuinely participative democracy. <br>
<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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