The National Electoral Council adjusts the upcoming election in Cuba so that the mechanisms fit like clockwork, and citizens exercise their vote freely and responsibly on March 26th.
By Roberto Morejón
The National Electoral Council adjusts the upcoming election in Cuba so that the mechanisms fit like clockwork, and citizens exercise their vote freely and responsibly on March 26th.
Cubans will vote for the 470 deputies to the National Assembly of People's Power. These people will be in charge of electing the president and vice-president of the country and continuing with the legislative course.
The National Electoral Council does not operate behind society's back, since as a State body it publishes its work agenda, which is so important because it organizes, directs and supervises the elections.
It is opportune to remember that, in order to occupy seats as members of an Electoral Council, Commission or Board of the Electoral College in a district, it is mandatory to be in full enjoyment of civil and political rights, not to occupy hierarchies of popular decision and to exhibit a good impression in the public opinion.
The members of the National Electoral Council, an autonomous body according to the precepts of the Constitution, ensure transparency, impartiality, validation of results and information to Cubans.
It already has experience in undertaking other elections, popular consultations, plebiscites and referendums, but that does not mean that every call to the polls is not a challenge.
What is at stake is to comply with the constitutional mandate, free of pressure, only pending to guarantee a scrupulous emission of suffrage in a relaxed atmosphere.
In Cuba, where there are no pamphlets or agitated campaigns where much is promised and almost everything is unfulfilled, the National Electoral Council strives in its mission.
It does so knowing that it is functionally independent from any other body and that it is accountable only to the National Assembly of People's Power.
But the opinion of the citizenry is basic, and so it is for the national entity as well as for the provincial and municipal electoral councils.
We are talking about a path cleared by transparency and adherence to the laws, a sufficient endorsement in the midst of campaigns by opponents of the social justice project being built in Cuba, with enormous material limitations, mainly due to the U.S. blockade.
In the face of those who seek to undermine the trajectory of local participatory democracy, Cubans are confident that on May 26 the elections for deputies, called every five years, will have a successful outcome.
