Posted on 10/20/2002 2:03:55 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (Reuters) - Millions of Cubans voted in local one-party elections on Sunday that the island's communist government hails as popular democracy but opponents say are a travesty.
President Fidel Castro (news - web sites), in power since a 1959 revolution, said more than 80 percent of the country's 8.2 million registered voters had turned out to vote for representatives in municipal assemblies.
Castro, dressed in his trademark military fatigues, cast his ballot at a polling station in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, where the choice was between two government employees, a lawyer and an electrician.
Half the candidates for elections to the provincial legislatures and the 600-seat National Assembly to be held early next year will emerge from Cuba's 169 municipal assemblies.
Cuban President Fidel Castro places his vote in the ballot box on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2002 in the his old neighborhood of Vedado in Havana, Cuba. Millions of Cubans went to the polls on Sunday to chose new municipal officials _ the men and women charged with solving all manner of neighborhood problems, from lack of water to deteriorating buildings. (AP Photo/Adalberto Roque, Pool)
The ruling Communist Party says the island's political system is more democratic than that of Western democracies because candidates emerge at the neighborhood level and there is no political propaganda or campaign financing.
"There is no demagoguery here," said National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon as he voted near his Havana home.
"We are not voting for anyone who will resolve the country's problems like a magician. We are voting for neighbors who will work for the people midst the difficulties the country has," he told reporters.
Cuba has never fully recovered from the collapse of its sponsor, the Soviet Union, over a decade ago, and the island's economy has been hit this year by a drop in tourism, its main source of dollars.
Dissident groups calling for political and economic reforms say there is no freedom of expression in Cuba, where the media are tightly controlled by the government.
A petition they presented to the legislature in May calling for freedom of assembly, the right to own a private business and the release of political prisoners has been ignored.
"Elections in Cuba are not elections, because one cannot choose," said dissident economist Martha Beatriz Roque.
"There is only one party and the candidates have nothing to offer," she said in a telephone interview.
Government officials said voting was not obligatory and pointed to the high turnout as evidence of support for the political system.
Some Cubans said they had no choice but to vote to avoid problems with neighborhood watch groups and the government.
"I have to vote or I would be a marked person in my neighborhood and that can come back to haunt me," said a 45-year-old handyman.
Havana resident Maria Rabassa, 70, disagreed, saying, "I am voting for improvement."
Saddam: U.S. Threats Gave Him Perfect Vote*** BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Saddam Hussein said U.S. threats of military action against Iraq played a role in his perfect 100 percent win in a referendum for another seven-year term in office. In his first comments on the result of Tuesday's presidential referendum, Saddam was quoted early on Thursday as telling his senior aides the vote showed the world that the Iraqi leadership and people were one.***
Deputies grew emotional and almost giddy during the tally, eventually applauding loudly after each vote. When the final vote had been declared unanimous, the deputies first stood stoically at attention for the Cuban national anthem, then held hands and swayed back in forth as they sang the socialist anthem, ``Internationale.'' Castro presided over the session and afterward personally greeted many of the lawmakers in the assembly. ***
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