By Emilio San Pedro
Americas editor, BBC News
Cuba is holding elections on Sunday to choose more than 15,000 municipal
council members.
It is the beginning of a process that will culminate in delegates
electing a new National Assembly next March.
These are the first elections since President Fidel Castro temporarily
handed over power to his younger brother, Raul, over 14 months ago.
Critics, led by the US and several European Union nations, say the
process in the one-party state is undemocratic.
The communist government in Cuba describes its electoral system, which
was enshrined in the constitution of 1976, as one of the freest and
fairest in the world, where almost anyone can be elected to a municipal
council or national assembly seat.
However, critics like the US and the EU, along with dissidents on the
island, disagree.
They say the electoral process in Cuba is merely a cosmetic democratic
exercise, which has no place for government opponents, as it is fully
overseen by the country's ruling Communist Party.
This latest round of municipal elections will see as many as 95% of
voters on the Caribbean island turn out.
The poll is given added significance because it is the first since Raul
Castro took over as acting president in place of the 81-year-old Fidel
at the end of July last year.
Since then, the status quo has reigned in Cuba and there has been no
sign that the country's ruling Communist Party has lost any of its hold
on power.
This is despite predictions to the contrary from Washington and the
leadership of the Cuban exile community in Miami.
But in a sign that it recognises its system is one primarily governed by
ageing revolutionaries, the Communist Party has urged young Cubans to
stand for seats in the poll in the hope of pumping younger blood into
the government's ageing political structure.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/7053170.stm
Published: 2007/10/21 01:19:24 GMT
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