Special to Canadian Dimension January 19, 2008

Canadian author Arnold August is currently in Havana, investigating and attending electoral activities regarding the current elections for deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament) and for delegates to the Provincial Assemblies. He was also in Cuba last September for most of the first phase of these general elections for delegates to the Municipal Assemblies. Simultaneously with this work, he is also carrying out extensive interviews, discussions and research concerning Cuba’s People’s Power: how it operates at all levels between elections, from the Parliament to the Municipal Assemblies to the People’s Councils within the Municipal Assembles. This and other collateral research is being carried out towards his forthcoming book entitled Cuba: Participatory Democracy and Elections in the 21st Century. To be released in 2009 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban revolution, it will be published first in English followed by Spanish and French in the same year.

His first book was published in 1999 and entitled Democracy in Cuba and the 1997-98 Elections.

Elections in Cuba: Meeting with the National Candidacy Commission, by Arnold August, January 19, 2008, Havana, Cuba

Last week I met with the National Candidacy Commission as well as the Municipal Candidacy Commission for the Plaza de la Revolucion Municipality in Havana where I am carrying out my basic field research. I have already dealt with in some detail how the nomination procedure takes place in the neighborhoods. Basically the citizens have the right to nominate from amongst their neighbors those citizens who they think who should be elected to the Municipal Assembly. A show of hands vote than takes place if there are more than one person proposed, and the person who gets the most votes is thus nominated from that nomination zone. There are normally several nomination zones for each electoral district in the Municipality. All those who are nominated are then elected through universal, secret suffrage, with at least two and a maximum of eight candidates on the ballot. Voters have the right to choose the one they judge is best.

What is the equivalent of this procedure on the national level, for the Parliament? How are candidates for deputies nominated? Unlike the municipal elections, there is only one candidate per seat in the parliament. When I met with the National Candidacy Commission 10 years ago in 1998 and once again last week, while also carrying out on the spot observations I have come once again to the same conclusion, but I believe in a much more profound way.

During the course of the lively exchange and discussion last week at the headquarters of the National Candidacy Commission it seemed to me that the entire procedure of consultation led by the national, provincial and municipal candidacy commissions is the equivalent of the local municipal neighborhood nomination meetings but on the national level with the goal of proposing candidates to the national assembly.

To summarize very briefly because everything will be laid out in full detail in my forthcoming book:

Firstly, those who compose the candidacy commissions at all levels are elected representatives of the six main mass organization in Cuba, headed by the workers’ trade union central and including representatives of the five other mass organizations: women, small farmers, CDR (local neighborhood committees), university students and high school students (16 to 18 years of age in Cuba).

Secondly, all the mass organizations at all three levels (national, provincial and municipal) have the right to propose people as pre-candidates from amongst the population from all walks of life.

Thirdly, at the Municipal level, the Candidacy Commission works with the Municipal Assembly to nominate pre-candidates from amongst those who have been elected as Municipal candidates in the first stage of these general elections last October. Keep in mind that according to the Cuban law, up to 50 % of the deputies and provincial delegates must be pre-candidates coming from the elected Municipal assembly delegates, nominated and elected as explained briefly above.

This year, according to last week’s interview with the Commission, the input coming out of this massive consultation during the first three steps outlined above, had resulted in a list of no less than 62,900 suggestions for pre-candidates.

Fourthly, candidacy commissions then carried out a massive consultation involving over 2.5 people in their work places and neighborhoods where these pre-candidates live and work in order to get grass roots opinions from the base on whether the proposed individuals are worthy or no to work in the Peoples Power.

Fifthly, each individual elected municipal delegate is consulted privately to collect their respective opinion on those proposed for their municipality.

Through very intensive work at all levels (upon questioning, the national commission members told me that they worked for many months for 6, 7 days a week, at time to 3 or 4 in the morning) in order to bring the list of more than 62, 000 nominees to the number of deputies required for the national Assembly, that is 614 as well as for all the provincial assemblies.

Sixthly, it is the municipal assemblies where the pre-candidates are assigned to run for elections which have to approve the list proposed by the candidate commission. The municipal delegates have the right to refuse one of more candidates, which happens from time to time and the candidacy commission in these cases has to propose another. Once the list is finalized, the pre-candidates become candidates.

The final step takes place tomorrow, January 20, when the voters have the final say. Each candidate has to get at least 50% of the valid votes in order to be elected. Last week I had asked one of the candidates for the provincial assembly from the Plaza de la Revolucion Municipality if she was nervous about the vote that is whether she would get 50%. The recently elected Municipal delegate confided that in fact she was worried, not because any prestige or privilege was at stake (there are no privileges, only more hard voluntary work at the same salary) in being elected provincial delegate. Her apprehension was to avoid disappointing her work mates, neighbors, mass organization colleagues in the union and women’s federation and fellow municipal delegates all of whom had all showed confidence in her. She simply did not want to let them down. So the 50% (even though no one has yet lost an election) is still present in the minds of many candidates.

However, the main point I would like to make tonight only a few hours before the polls open early tomorrow morning, is the following: in my opinion, the entire work of the candidacy commissions at all levels and in conjunctions with the mass organizations, the municipal assembly delegates and the citizens in the work places and neighborhoods, all of this consists of a nomination procedure that is at least as valid that the local nomination meetings. It is even superior in some respects. I find that it is very professional. Those involved have to make sure that the society is to be represented in the Parliament.

Let us take one example, the increase of the number of women deputies. While explaining to me very carefully that the Candidacy Commissions do not believe in any quota system, they attempt to increase the number of women in the People’s Power. They take into account first and foremost qualities that would make for a good deputy, also considered is profession or work so that all walks of life are presented, age, skin color, but also, and in this context gender. And so tomorrow evening Cuba, according to the National Candidacy Commission, may be ranked number six in the world as far as the number of women deputies that is 43.16% of the deputies, 7% more than the previous elections in 2003 - just some food for thought as to the role of the candidacy commission in nominating candidates.

From: Arnold August [mailto:arnoldaugust@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:08 AM Subject: Voting Day in Cuba by Arnold August

Voting Day in Cuba: District Number 12, Plaza de la Revolución Municipality,

Ciudad de la Habana Province

by Arnold August

Yesterday January 20 voters across the island voted for candidates as delegates to the Provincial Assemblies and deputies to the National Assembly of Peoples Power.

I concentrated my observation and attendance in one electoral district in order to provide readers of my forthcoming book a detailed and easily comprehensible understanding and appreciation of how voting takes place in Cuba. I am presenting here today some brief impressions. The full description replete with my own photos will appear in the 2009 publication.

Polling stations are open from 7 A.M. to 6 P.M., always on a Sunday. District # 12 is one of 109 districts comprising the Municipality. The district consists of no more than 8 square blocks. The provincial delegates as well as the deputies to be elected will be representing the entire municipality. The deputies are also responsible for the nation and the provincial delegates for the entire province.

There are so many things to say about voting day in Cuba. I will concentrate on just one point today, an issue that may seem banal to many Cubans, but to many others who live in other countries, it is something to take into account: voting in Cuba is easy.

Everyone sixteen years and over has the right to vote. There is a register of residents that is continuously updated throughout the year whether there are elections or not. In the period preceding the elections and in conjunction with the local neighborhood committees (CDR’s) this register is converted into a voting list comprised of people who will have reached voting age by the time of elections. This update has been going on since last summer heading into the municipal elections held last October as the first stage of these 2007/2008 general elections. For yesterday’s national and provincial elections the lists have been updated once again last November and December. They are posted in public places and residents have the right to verify and make any corrections, rectify omissions.

The # 12 Electoral District is divided into 5 polling stations, each one comprising several CDR’s that serve as the basis for informing their neighbors about voting rights, how voting takes place, logistics, etc. There are a maximum 300 voters per polling station. The number of voter per polling station has been continuously reduced over the last 10 years in order to further facilitate voting. In an apartment block which comprises say 200 - 250 voters, there may be several CDRS’s and the polling station is established in the apartment block itself. In this case, voters just go to the ground floor. In any case, in the urban areas, no one has to walk more than 150 to 200 meters in order to vote. The 5 polling stations were established in 3 different primary schools within District # 12. Here is the breakdown of the 5 polling stations in the District.

Polling Station # 1: 239 registered voters

Polling Station # 2: 209 registered voters

Polling Station # 3: 208 registered voters

Polling Station # 4: 264 registered voters

Polling Station # 5: 252 registered voters

Changes can be made on voting day itself to facilitate the application of the Constitution’s universal suffrage right. For example, yesterday, by 11 A.M., in polling station number 3, eight citizens had approached the polling station to be on the voter’s list either because their name was omitted by mistake and it was not noticed by the citizen beforehand (which is rare), or because people are present in the district from another province in order to visit family or friends on pressing matters. All they have to do is show their ID card. In fact, all voters show up with their ID cards as proof. This is verified by the Electoral Board based on the latest updated version of the electoral list. The Electoral Board is comprised of five people from the neighborhood established on the basis of mutual consultation between the District Electoral Commission and the citizens. The president is from time to time the same every elections because she or he volunteers and has the experience. For example in polling station number 3, the person who headed the station was the same yesterday as the one who presided over the elections ten years ago when I observed the same polling station.

The National Election Commission has assured the possibility for people to vote wherever they may be on voting day. For example, if family or friends of a patient happen to be in a hospital visiting or assisting, they can vote in the polling stations established for patients in the hospital. For people in transit, say in a bus station and who will not be able to reach a polling station by the end of the day, they can also vote in bus stations.

In the polling stations visited in District number 12, potential voters are verified by at least two electoral board members as being indicated on the voter’s registration list, or added on if this is case. The polling station posts the photos and biographies of each of the candidate for both levels of government as well as detailed instructions on how to vote and their rights. (Since early December, the photos and bios had been posted in public places and combined with candidate/citizen information meetings; the opportunity exists for voters to get to know the candidates.) They are then handed two ballots, a pencil and verbally explained how to vote. There is no hurry, no real line ups, as the polling stations never contain more than 300 voters. One ballot is for the National Assembly deputies and the other is the provincial assembly delegates. The voter is then showed the way to a voting booth where the person is isolated and privately votes according to her/his conscience. Once this is done, the voter then deposits the ballots for deputies in one sealed ballot box, and for delegates in another one, with the assistance of pioneers (young primary school students).

What happens if one is an elderly person or temporarily immobilized? The family or neighbours informs the local CDR which in turn informs the electoral board. I accompanied the electoral board representative and two Pioneers who went to meet several elderly people (one 92 years old and in a wheel chair). During each visit, the voter is explained the voting procedures, handed ballots and fills them out. The ballots are then handed to the pioneers who fold them into an envelope and along with the electoral board representative walk the one block to the polling station to deposit the ballots in the boxes.

This article was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 and is filed under Cuba. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.