The Guardian 30 January, 2008
Cuba: The united vote has prevailed!
Further irrefutable evidence of the unity of the Cuban people and their confidence in the Revolution has just been provided by the elections outcome: 95.24% ballots cast were valid and a 91% majority supported the united vote.
The latter percentage indicates that nine out of 10 citizens who cast valid votes supported all the candidates nominated for Parliament, according to preliminary information from María Esther Reus, president of the National Electoral Commission.
By the people’s choice, the 614 National Assembly deputies and 1,201 delegates to the Provincial Assemblies of People’s Power were elected and will begin their work soon.
Reus, who is Minister of Justice, reported that 96% of the country’s voters went to the polls. In the case of the vote for parliamentary deputies, the number of ballots cast totalled 8,230,832, of which 95.24% were valid; blank ballots totalled the equivalent of 3.73% and voided ballots just 1.04%, she said.
Those figures are still preliminary because the Commission has yet to confirm and validate them as legally required; within the next 48 hours, the process of reconciling the figures for the January 20 elections with the Electoral Registry should be complete, Reus said.
President Fidel Castro exercised his right to vote for all the candidates aspiring to be deputies and provincial delegates at polling station Number 1, electoral district 13, in the Havana neighbourhood of Plaza de la Revolución where, by mid-morning, a high percentage of voters had already turned out.
The president of the Councils of States and Ministers was able to receive, like any other citizen, the cooperation of a member of the Electoral Desk in his polling station. Instruction No. 3 from the National Electoral Commission stipulates that in those cases where an elector cannot attend the polling station due to physical impediment, they may request the assistance of the Electoral Desk to allow them to exercise their right to vote in their home or other location. The President of the Desk acts accordingly and appropriately, always ensuring that the Electoral Law is fulfilled and that the regulations concerning respect for secrecy are upheld.
The two ballots completed by Fidel were deposited in the ballot box by Migdalia García, president of the Desk, who explained to the press that another 15 neighbors from the area had also requested the same cooperation.
"I made use of the united vote as a question of conscience," said Fidel to the people, through a message read out at Polling Station 1 by Randy Alonso, a leader of the Union of Young Communists and director of the "Roundtable" television program.
Granma