Electoral results
The Cuban Government Bodies
More than eight million Cubans vote
Fidel and Raúl reelected as Council of State President

Questioning Cuban political and electoral system is one of the prime mainstay of the enemy campaign spearheaded by the United States against our country. The activity against Cuba in the fields of democracy and human rights, is not only the main tool used by the United States in its attempt to "legitimate" its policy of hostility and aggression towards Cuba but it is also in line with the major industrialized countries interest of imposing a model of political organization that facilitates to exert their domination upon developing countries.

In their campaign against Cuba, Washington seeks to prove the incompatibility between the political system established by the Constitution of the country and the standards internationally accepted regarding democracy and human rights. The U.S. administration also intends to fabricate the image of an intolerant society unable to admit even the slightest political diversity and plurality. To attain those purposes, they rely on powerful instruments of propaganda and large resources used to recruit, organize and finance minuscule counterrevolutionary groups which are depicted as the "political opposition", both inside and outside the country.

The manipulation of the concept of democracy by the major western powers has recently reached very dangerous dimensions. Those who differ from the democratic model they advocated, and from the patterns and values they uphold, are not only subjected to questioning and satanization through propaganda and the actions taken by international institutions which control the so-called "democracy defense", but they also become potential "targets" of the interfering doctrine developed by the imperialist powers.

Cuba defends and supports the people’s right to self-determination, internationally recognized as an inalienable right in the consensus reached at the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, in 1993. Moreover, In the Declaration and Program of Action of Vienna it stated that democracy is based on people’s freely expressed will to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural régime, and in their full participation in all the aspects of life". Likewise, the importance of national and regional particularities was recognized, as well as the diverse historical, cultural and religious heritages".

It is on the basis of these concepts, openly ignored for those who try to impose their models as "unique" that the Cuban political system is founded. This is a model chosen and defended by Cubans themselves, genuinely autochthonous and authentically based on equality and solidarity among men and women, on independence, sovereignty and social justice.

Cubans are already acquainted with the model they are trying to impose today to our country, we already lived the sad experience of the "multi-party" and "representative" system prescribed to it by the United States. This is a system that brought about external dependence, corruption, illiteracy, racism and poverty for broad sectors of the population, in summary, the complete denial of the most elemental rights, both individual and collective, including the right to a truly free and democratic electoral process.

This system and the permanent U.S. interfering policy, not only bred rulers that were thieves and corrupt, but also procreated tyrannical and murderous dictatorships, sponsored and directly supported by the government of the United States.

With this background, the Cuban Revolution could not undertake that system if it truly wanted to eradicate the evils inherited as a result of this. Therefore, the country endeavored to design its own model, by delving into its own roots and turning to the social, humanistic and patriotic thinking of the most enlightened fathers of the Cuban nation.

So, to explain the Cuban political system, the first thing to be underlined is that our model is not imported. It was never a copy of the Soviet pattern nor does it copy any of the existing models in the socialist countries at that moment, like the enemies of the Revolution have tried so hard to make the world believe. The political system of Cuba was born and is consistent with the historical evolution of the socio-political process of the Cuban nation, with its feats and shortcomings, with its advances and setbacks. The fact that the formation and development of the Cuban nation during its hardly 130 years of existence has faced practically the same external and internal factors, favored a coherent history. Thus, it allowed for the development of the idea of building a nation forged by the own Cubans.

The existence of a single party in the Cuban system is determined, among others, for historical and contemporary factors. Our party is the historical continuity of the Cuban Revolutionary Party founded by José Martí pursuing to unite the people with the objective of reaching the absolute independence of Cuba. The factors that originated that Party, the goal to liberate Cuba and to prevent its annexation to the United States, remain the same today when our people is confronting with a ruthless economic, commercial and financial blockade and other hostile actions aimed at toppling the government and destroy the system established in the country by sovereign decision of all Cubans.

Our Party carries out its task through persuasion, in close and permanent involvement with the masses, and its decisions are binding only for its members. It is not an electoral party and it is prohibited for it not only to nominate candidates, but participating in any other moment of the electoral process. This concept and practice, ensure that the widest plurality of opinions can develop and prevail in a one-party system.

Characteristic of the Cuban political and electoral system:

1. - Free of charge, automatic and universal inscription for all the citizens with right to the vote starting from 16 years of age.

2. -Candidates are directly postulated by the own voters in public assemblies (in many countries the political parties are those that nominate the candidates).

3. - Nonexistence of discriminatory, millionaire, outrageous, defaming and manipulated electoral campaigns.

4. - Total fairness and transparency in the elections. The ballots boxes are guarded by children and youths, members of the Pioneers organization, sealed before the population, votes are publicly counted as national and foreign press, diplomats, tourists and everyone willing to, can freely oversee the counting.

5. - It is compulsory to be elected by majority. The candidate is only elect if he or she obtains more than 50% of the emitted valid votes. If this result is not reached in the first round, the most voted candidates will go to a second one.

6. - The vote is free, equal and secret. All the Cuban citizens are entitled to choose and to be chosen. As there is not list of parties, the vote is directly emitted for the elected candidate.

7. - All the representative bodies of the State Power are elected and renewable.

8. Every elected person is accountable for its actions.

9. - All the elected candidates can be revoked at any moment of their term.

10. Parliament members and delegates are not professional, therefore they don't earn a wage for this work.

11. - High participation of the people in the elections. In all the electoral processes that have taken place since 1976, more than 95% of the voters have cast their vote . In the last parliamentary elections in 1998 98,35% of the voters cast their vote. 94,98% of the votes were valid, 1,66% of the ballots was annulled and only 3,36% was deposited in blank.

12. - Parliament members are chosen for a 5-year term.

13. The composition of the Parliament envisages the broadest possible scope of sectors in Cuban society.
14. - A member of the Parliament is elected by each 20 000 inhabitants, or a fraction bigger than 10 thousands. All the municipalities are represented in the National Assembly, and the grass-root foundation of the system, the constituency, is actively involved in its composition. Each constituency will elect at least two deputies, and starting from that figure, deputies will be elected in direct proportion with the number of inhabitants. 50% of the deputies must be delegates elected at the constituencies, and they have to live in the same territory they represent.

15.- The National Assembly elects, among its members, the Council of State and its President. The President of the Council of State is Head of State and Head of Government. Therefore, the Head of the Cuban government has to undergo two electoral processes: first, he or she has to be elected as parliament member by the population, through free, direct, and secret vote, and later by the rest of the members of the Parliament.
16. - Since the National Assembly is the supreme body of the state power and since the legislative, executive and judicial functions, are subordinated to the Assembly, the Head of State and of Government can not dissolve it.

17. - The legislative initiative is a prerogative of multiple sectors of the society, such as unions, organizations of students, women, social organizations and individual citizens. It is not restricted to Parliament members, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General Office, any initiative requires the support of 10 000 voters at least.

18. - Bills have to be submitted and passed by the majority vote of Deputies. The specificity of the Cuban method is that a bill is not taken to discussion at the Plenary until, by means of reiterated consultations with members of Parliament and keeping in mind the proposals they have made, it is unequivocally asserted. The realization of this concept gains greater relevance when the population actively participates, together with Parliament members, in the evaluation and discussion of strategic issues. In those occasions the Parliament moves to working places, schools and rural areas, making direct and participative democracy a reality.

All the above mentioned, portrays the essence of the Cuban democracy, and the system established, enacted and supported and supported by the immense majority of Cubans.

However, we don't pretend to have achieved a level of perfect democratic development. The main quality of the Cuban political system is its capacity for a continued improvement to meet with the ever-arising necessities with a view to a full, true and systematic involvement of the people in leading and controlling the society, which is the essence of the true democracy.