Polls Open for over 8 Million Cubans on Sunday Legislative Elections

Over 8 million Cubans are voting Sunday to elect the 605 members of the National Assembly and 1,265 delegates to the 15 provincial legislative bodies of the People''s Power.

By means of free voting, which is secret and egalitarian according to the 1992 Electoral Law of Cuba, the registered voters will go to the ballot boxes in 24,470 electoral polling stations in the island's 168 municipalities.

National Electoral Commission (CEN) president Alina Balseiro stated Thursday conditions were already created for the second stage of the 2017-2018 general elections.

A total of 12,515 delegates were elected last year, for the 168 municipal assemblies.

Balseiro said that last Sunday a test trial was conducted to check all the elements of the voting system, scrutiny, calculation and analysis of information, as well as to identify likely problems to be overcome.

'The results of the test were satisfactory, and we were able to detect difficulties that were solved in the course of the week,' she said.

In statements to Prensa Latina, CEN's vice president Tomas Amaran highlighted the strength of the Cuban electoral system.

One of the most relevant issues is citizens' participation in the process, as well as its direction, he said.

Amaran also mentioned the way in which the candidates are proposed and nominated, directly by the people or mass organizations and without the mediation of individual political propaganda, campaigns or economic interest.

Cuban Higher Education Deputy Minister Gil Ramon Gonzalez played out the participation of more than 17,000 university and high school students as collaborators in the elections.

For the elections, more than 200,000 citizens were trained to work at the voting process as electoral commissioners and supporting staff at polling stations.

The Sunday elections will lead to the formation of the National Assembly, and once Parliament is proclaimed and it chooses its speaker and other leaders, it will elect Cuba's new president.