IS CUBA DEMOCRATIC?

The Cuban revolution began with the struggle for democracy against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. It was also a struggle for democracy in the broadest sense of winning the right of the Cuban nation to act as a sovereign power and shape its own future.

Out of the revolution there arose a number of mass popular organisations which to this day continue to wield considerable influence over Cuban society. These include the trade unions, the Federation of Cuban Women, the National Association of Small Farmers and, very importantly, the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution. All these have extraordinarily high levels of membership numbering in most cases around 95% of their potential constituency.

These popular organisations are the backbone of the Cuban people's high level of participation in decisions which affect their everyday lives. But they are also complemented by a unique electoral system of direct democracy which the government proudly boasts, with justifiable reason, makes it the most democratic state in the world.

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates. Instead the candidates are nominated by grass roots assemblies and by electoral commissions comprising representatives of all the mass organisations.
The municipal elections are the cornerstone of Cuba's political structure. They comprise delegates who have great authority amongst the local population and who are elected for reasons of known integrity, intelligence, hard work and honesty.

The elections to the provincial and national assemblies (Cuba's regional and national parliaments) follow a different procedure. For deputies to the national assembly the nominating process involves proposals from the municipal councils.

In addition to receiving nominations from different organisations and institutions, the candidacy commissions carry out an exhaustive process of consultation before drawing up a final slate. In the February 1993 elections they consulted more than 1.5 million people and established a pool of between 60 and 70 thousand potential candidates before narrowing it down to 589.

The nominating process and the huge participation in the last election clearly show that the deputies to Cuba's parliament enjoy massive public support.

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