NationStates Jolt Archive

Posted Tuesday Oct 23, 2007, La Habana Cuba Time.

La Habana CUBA, 29 September, 2007.- The photographs and biographies of the candidates for Cuba's October 21 local elections have been posted in public places this weekend in voting districts in all of the country's 169 municipalities.

The candidates have been choosen democratically in neighborhood electoral commisions in public by a show of hands.

Candidates do not have to be party members, they can belong to many diffrent revolutionary organizations of the people, like The Neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Young Pioners, Workers Unions Organizations, ect, ect, ect.

This step in Cuba 's electoral process gives voters an opportunity to learn more about the candidates to help them make their choice for the best representative.

More than 37,000 nominees are competing throughout the country with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 candidates per voting district.

A candidate must receive 50 percent plus 1 vote to be elected. If no candidate in a given district gets such a majority on the first round of voting, a second run off election will take place on October 28.

At least 97.59 % of the 8,376,234 elegible voters cast their ballots
• 8,174,350 citizens go to the polls to elect their People’s Power delegates, according to preliminary information.

MORE than 8,174,350 Cubans exercised their right to vote on Sunday, October 21, choosing their delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power, a figure that represents the equivalent of 97.59 % of voters.

In a press conference on Monday, María Esther Reus, president of the LHC National Electoral Commission, said that those preliminary figures could become higher. She added that on Sunday the 28th, there would be a second round of voting in the 2,971 voting districts where none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote.

She added that in this election, 12,265 citizens were elected as delegates; 3,288 are women, which is 26.81%; 2,053 are young people, which is 16.74%; and 5,776 of acting delegates were re-elected, a figure of 47.09%.

The likewise minister of justice described elections in Cuba as a mass event, given the active, enthusiastic and disciplined participation of the population. She also highlighted the level of preparation and security of the entire process.

Even in the eastern provinces, she noted, where the heavy rainfall affected communications and access, the elections went smoothly thanks to the search for alternative ways of meeting those challenges.

Reus explained that the final results of this first round would be provided soon, because they were yet to be reconciled against official, public and computerized voter information.

In the name of the LHC National Electoral Commission, she congratulated the entire people, the 190,000 people designated as electoral authorities and those who worked as auxiliary personnel at every level, and with their efforts guaranteed that once again, Cuba’s elections were held with transparency and democracy.

Responding to questions from foreign reporters, María Esther Reus noted that one-third of the candidates nominated by the people were not members of the Communist Party of Cuba, and that party membership is not a requirement for being nominated.

In response to another question, she explained that religious affiliation is also not recorded, because any Cuban man or woman, regardless of their religious beliefs, may be elected as a People’s Power delegate.

She also noted that the date for electing delegates to the Provincial Assemblies of People’s Power and deputies to the LHC National Assembly Parliment, LHC NAP would be announced at the appropriate time.

Pro government candidates elected in the first round12,265 80.50 % of the 15,236, opposition candidates 0, 2,971 19.50 % will be elected in the second round Oct 28, 2007.

All fellow nations may vote and post thier congratulations to the government or not, please include a response request or we may not respond, they may also send diplomatic telegrams of congratulations or not, please include a response request or we may not respond.

We reserve the right to thank those nations that posted on our main mother thread.

More information will be updated and posted as time permits.

Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque
LHC State Council of Ministers Collective
LHC Socialist Democratic Republic of Cuba.

Updated Friday, Oct 26, 2007, 12:30 pm.

Fellow Nations may post election victory congratulations to the government or not posts, may also send congratulation victory telegrams or not telegrams, please include a response request in both cases, if not we dont know if a response is expected or desired.

La Habana CUBA, 29 September, 2007.- The photographs and biographies of the candidates for LH Cuba's October 21 local elections have been posted in public places this weekend in voting districts in all of the country's 169 municipalities.

The candidates have been choosen democratically in neighborhood electoral commisions in public by a show of hands.

Candidates do not have to be party members, they can belong to many diffrent revolutionary organizations of the people, like The Neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Young Pioners, Workers Unions Organizations, ect, ect, ect.

This step in Cuba 's electoral process gives voters an opportunity to learn more about the candidates to help them make their choice for the best representative.

More than 37,000 nominees are competing throughout the country with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 candidates per voting district.

A candidate must receive 50 percent plus 1 vote to be elected. If no candidate in a given district gets such a majority on the first round of voting, a second run off election will take place on October 28.

At least 97.59 % of the 8,376,234 elegible voters cast their ballots
• 8,174,350 citizens go to the polls to elect their People’s Power delegates, according to preliminary information.

MORE than 8,174,350 Cubans exercised their right to vote on Sunday, October 21, choosing their delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power, a figure that represents the equivalent of 97.59 % of voters.

In a press conference on Monday, María Esther Reus, president of the LHC National Electoral Commission, said that those preliminary figures could become higher. She added that on Sunday the 28th, there would be a second round of voting in the 2,971 voting districts where none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote.

She added that in this election, 12,265 citizens were elected as delegates; 3,288 are women, which is 26.81%; 2,053 are young people, which is 16.74%; and 5,776 of acting delegates were re-elected, a figure of 47.09%.

The likewise minister of justice described elections in Cuba as a mass event, given the active, enthusiastic and disciplined participation of the population. She also highlighted the level of preparation and security of the entire process.

Even in the eastern provinces, she noted, where the heavy rainfall affected communications and access, the elections went smoothly thanks to the search for alternative ways of meeting those challenges.

Reus explained that the final results of this first round would be provided soon, because they were yet to be reconciled against official, public and computerized voter information.

In the name of the LHC National Electoral Commission, she congratulated the entire people, the 190,000 people designated as electoral authorities and those who worked as auxiliary personnel at every level, and with their efforts guaranteed that once again, Cuba’s elections were held with transparency and democracy.

Responding to questions from foreign reporters, María Esther Reus noted that one-third of the candidates nominated by the people were not members of the Communist Party of Cuba, and that party membership is not a requirement for being nominated.

In response to another question, she explained that religious affiliation is also not recorded, because any Cuban man or woman, regardless of their religious beliefs, may be elected as a People’s Power delegate.

She also noted that the date for electing delegates to the Provincial Assemblies of People’s Power and deputies to the LHC National Assembly Parliment, LHC NAP would be announced at the appropriate time.

Pro government candidates elected in the first round 12,265 80.50 % of the 15,236, opposition candidates 0 seats, 2,971 19.50 % will be elected in the second round Oct 28, 2007.

We reserve the right to thank those nations that posted on our main mother thread.

More information will be updated and posted as time permits.

Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque
LHC State Council of Ministers Collective
LHC Socialist Democratic Republic of Cuba.

Havana. October 25, 2007

The people have elected their representatives

BY LISANKA GONZALEZ SUAREZ — LHC Granma International staff writer —

THE Cuban people exercised their right in the atmosphere of tranquility and transparency that characterizes elections in this Caribbean country. And, just one day after the Bush government announced new measures against Cuba, voter participation here was massive, in a demonstration of the lack of importance given here to his threats.

The island’s current electoral system has been in place since 1976. Every two years, the people elect their representatives to the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power. Voters select 15,236 candidates, who then comprise the country’s 169 assemblies.

The electoral process began in September with the holding of neighborhood assemblies in each voting district to nominate the candidates. These assemblies numbered more than 50,700, and were held in each one of the country’s 15,000 voting districts. This year, there was a significant increase in the number of women and young people nominated.

Candidates are proposed by their neighbors in open public democratic meetings by a show of hands, as the individuals with the most merits and capabilities for representing their interests.

Only the oldest Cubans remember the way elections were held in this country before 1959, when political parties launched their candidates after long competitions among themselves, and tried to trick the people with promises that they never meant to keep, in order to win a government post at all costs. Then they would saturate the streets and the radio with their campaigns, with full-color posters featuring the smiling, benevolent faces of the candidates asking for your vote.

That’s what elections were like here before, no different than they way they still are in other countries that claim to be democratic.

That’s in the past. And nobody misses them, except those who fled in the stampede after the triumph of the Revolution, and who —during their domino games in Little Habana — dream of re-establishing what used to exist in Cuba: ballot-box theft, cheating, fraud, votes cast by voters who were dead: exactly like the last presidential elections in Miami.

In LHC Cuba, as everybody knows, the only postings about candidates at election time are their photos and their biographies. These are placed in public, well-trafficked locations so that everyone can learn about the merits of those nominated to be their representatives. None of them would ever dream of campaigning, because they know that a clean record of public service is enough, making their re-election a recognition of their merits.

In the neighborhoods, residents choose the person that they believe will best represent them in the municipal government and try to find solutions to problems posed despite the personal sacrifice involved, because it is not a paid job.

LC Cuba’s citizens vote with awareness. And the boxes where they place their ballots are guarded by children. Therefore, in the 37,749 polling stations equipped for this year’s elections, the voting was organized and peaceful.

Reserved