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Cuba is a parliamentary republic. Elections in 1952 were aborted by a coup staged by Fulgencio Batista. Batista was elected President at elections in 1954 which were boycotted by the opposition, and then ruled as a dictator until he was overthrown by Fidel Castro, followed by the establishment of the modern Cuban government.
Electoral system edit
Cuba has a national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), which has 609 members, replaced every five years through a process of election in which voters in each electoral district are offered only one candidate. This candidate is either a member of, or acceptable to, the Communist Party. The last such elections were held on 19 January 2003. All the 609 candidates who ran uncontested for the National Assembly were elected. According to IPU, the law stipulates that up to 50% of the Deputies must be delegates chosen in each municipality. Parliamentary candidates are otherwise proposed by nominating assemblies which comprise representatives of workers, youth, women, students and farmers as well as members of the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution. The final list of candidates, which corresponds to the number of seats to be filled, is drawn up by the National Candidature Commission taking into account criteria such as candidates' popularity, merit, patriotism, ethical values and revolutionary history.[1] Suffrage is afforded to Cuban citizens resident for two years who are aged over sixteen years and who have not been found guilty of a criminal offence.
Elections in a socialist society edit
The Cuban elections exist in context of a socialist society and were designed, at least in principle, to be consistent with socialist values. Supporters of the present government consider an alternative form of democracy, where elections are held with secret ballots, making possible individual protest against the government by voting with spoiled ballots, though overt campaigning is prohibited.
Critique edit
In Cuba, there has not been an election since 1948 in which opposition candidates were allowed as the elections are phrased as a yes or no for the nominated candidate. Opponents and other observers argue that since the electoral system does not allow oppositional candidates, these elections are generally not considered to be free and fair elections, in which voters had a choice of candidates from various political orientation. The majority of Deputies belong to the Communist Party of Cuba is the only legal party, and overt opposition is prohibited by the constitution. The remainder are officially independent candidates, however they must accept Communist values and are criticised as a device for maintaining a facade of democracy (see National Front (Czechoslovakia) for a comparable example). A legal way of citizens to oppose the incumbent government is to spoil a ballot or to vote no at a candidate.
Municipal elections edit
Municipal assemblies are elected every two and a half years. Municipal elections are officially non-partisan, but all candidates must accept Communist and socialist values, and no candidate can express overt opposition to the Cuban constitution which effectively amounts to a requirement of loyalty to the incumbent government. The last such elections were held on 17 April, 2005. Turnout was reported to be 95.76%. After a massive campaign to get more people to vote, Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo of Cuba's National Electoral Commission reported that approximately 8.2 million Cubans of the country's population of approximately 11 million had voted. Reports of spoiled and blank ballots, considered to reflect voter opposition, range from 3 to 6 percent.
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