How purpose in Cuba the candidates to deputies

The selection of the 470 candidates for deputies who today aspire to be part of the Cuban Parliament is a staggered process that has the opinion of various actors in society.

Conforming the proposal of nominees is the responsibility of the candidacy commissions in its different instances: national, provincial and municipal, which are made up of representatives of the student and mass organizations, chaired by the Workers Central of Cuba.

It is precisely these groups that provide the pool of names to prepare the proposal, from the suggestions from the base to the national plenary sessions of each one of them.

With this «raw material» the National Nominations Commission (CCN) prepares a project taking into account the capacity of each person, their merits, moral authority, popular acceptance and that they are representative of the different sectors of the country.

To integrate the current lists of nominees, the CCN initially worked with more than 19,000 names, which resulted in 4,760 pre-candidates, and the National Electoral Council verified that they met the requirements required by law to hold that position.

After interviews, other evaluations and a new reduction of the proposals, the CCN delivered a version of the candidacies to the municipal commissions and they consulted them individually with each base delegate, a process that was held from January 30 to February 3.

Concluded this step, the municipal assemblies of the People’s Power met in extraordinary session on February 5, to approve their candidates for the National Assembly, however, this does not mean that the proposals of the candidacy commissions are immovable.

In accordance with the Electoral Law, delegates have the power to approve or reject one, some or all of the pre-candidates and present other options from a prior reservation.

This was the case in the municipalities of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y de Vertientes, in the central province of Camagüey, where there were changes to two proposals.

In either case, all those put forward to become candidates for the legislative body must obtain more than 50 percent of the votes of the delegates.

The CCN has functional independence from any other body and is made up of more than 1,700 people throughout the nation, who participated in the consultation process and, currently and until March 24, support the meetings of the candidates with the people, because in Cuba electoral campaigns are not carried out.

Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon