Voter turnout about 76% in Cuban elections

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Apr 2023 12:11
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Over 6 million people cast their vote in the Cuban elections whose candidates were overwhelmingly from the Communist Party.

A woman walks to cast her vote at a polling station during the legislative elections in Havana, Cuba, March 26, 2023. (AP)

Over 6 million Cubans cast their vote according to Cuba's electoral body which announced the results of the parliamentary elections.

Alina Balseiro, the president of the National Electoral Council, said in a news conference that the voter turnout in the parliamentary elections held on March 26 was almost 76%.

While 5.56 million ballots were tallied as legitimate, according to Balseiro, about 383,000 were blank and 215,000 were considered invalid.

Popular Power and the Government will be represented in the assembly with 25.11%, general and higher education employees with 10.85%, food producers, farmers, and sugar producers with 10.65%, and members from the health and pharmaceutical industries with 8.94%, she said.

She stated that 226 of the elected lawmakers were women, 93 were young individuals under the age of 35, and 167 were reelected.

It is worth noting that there were only 470 candidates for the 470 parliamentary seats, meaning that there would be one candidate for every seat. Overwhelmingly, candidates were from the Communist Party, Balseiro said.

In an interview with Al Mayadeen earlier this month, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that the government is currently conducting dialogue with the people, and parliamentary candidates were meeting with the electorate ahead of the elections.

"For one to elect a president, one must first be elected by the people as a representative; it is highly up to what the people want - and whether or not they see in each and every one of us the characteristics they want in a representative [...] it is all about the people's assessment first and that of the National Assembly second," Diaz-Canel underlined.