The National Electoral Commission (CEN) of Cuba reported Monday 82.9 percent of voters participated on the Sunday legislative elections, though this is not the final count, it indicated.
According to CEN president Alina Balseiro,7,399,891 voters showed up at polling stations to cast their ballots, out of a list of 8,926,575 registered voters.
CEN said in a press conference on Monday afternoon that the final results of the elections will be issued after a detailed assessment.
Balseiro said that, based on preliminary results issued today, the 605 candidates for deputies to the National Assembly of the People’s Power (parliament) and the 1,265 candidates for delegates to the provincial Assemblies of the People’s Power were elected after winning more than half the valid votes.
In this regard, she said that the vote for all candidates (which is a feature of this electoral round) reached 80.44 percent, while the individual selection (of one or several candidates from the ballots) was 19.56 percent.
She said that the valid ballots represented 94.42 percent, higher than the 2012-2013 electoral process, while the spoiled and void ballots represented 1.26 percent and 4.32 percent, respectively.
She said that the new parliament would be made up of 47.44 percent of deputies who were candidates previously chosen by the people from the grassroots; 53.22 percent, women, and 13.22 percent who are under 35 years old.
She said that 40.17 percent of the elected deputies are younger than 50 years.
Regarding the percent of the voters participating in the process, which on Sunday was slightly lower compared to previous elections, she said that CEN does not analyze the process, it respects the right of voters whether or not to turn out to vote.
However, she insisted that yesterday’s elections were characterized by the massive attendance of the population to the polling places, ‘the reaffirmation of the Cuban electoral system and the confidence of the people in it.’
The general elections 2017-2018 in Cuba were called last June and its first stage concluded in December with the vote for the municipal assemblies of the People’s Power.
The process will conclude on April 19th with the vote for the National Assembly of the People’s Power, the election of the State Council and the country’s new President.
(Prensa Latina)