Cubans vote in parliamentary elections

Cubans vote in parliamentary elections
Sunday, 03 February 2013 09:21

Over 8.5 million Cubans on Sunday started to cast their votes for the picking of nearly 1,900 members of the country's new national and provincial legislatures. They are expected to elect 612 National Assembly members from an equal number of candidates, and select nearly 1,270 delegates to the 15 provincial people's power assemblies, or the local legislatures, for a five-year term.

A total of 29,942 polling stations were set up across the island nation and are running from 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) to 6 p.m. ( 2300 GMT) Sunday. The elections involve 14,737 electoral commissions of various constituencies and over 225,000 election officials, with some 150,000 working in the polling stations.

According to Alina Balseiro, president of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), voters have received necessary training to ensure a smooth voting process, and the voting system was fully tested in a trial run conducted last Sunday.

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Raul Castro, 81, is running for the new National Assembly as a candidate representing the municipality of "Second Front" in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. His elder brother and former president Fidel Castro, now 86 and retired since 2006, represents the district of Santiago de Cuba city.

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2013/02/04/2361s746685.htm