The low attendance at the polling stations is marking Sunday in Cuba, where this March 26 the polls have opened early to ratify the 470 candidates who will occupy, for five years, the same number of seats in the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP).
Although more than 8.1 million people are called to participate in the process, in many of the 23,648 polling stations the images of few lines were repeated this morning, most of them in the early hours but which have diminished as in which the day progresses, according to reports compiled by 14ymedio.
In various schools in the municipalities of Centro Habana and Diez de Octubre, in the Cuban capital, at the stroke of nine in the morning, the volunteers who work at the polling stations and the children, dressed as pioneers, who traditionally guard the polling stations, were barely visible. urns.
“Here I have only seen the organizers of the College and a neighbor who is an Inder official go to vote. [Instituto Nacional de Deportes Educación Física y Recreación]”, explains to this newspaper a young artist living in the neighborhood of Key West in Central Havana who decided not to vote this Sunday.
The travelers who arrived this morning at the bus station in the city of Camagüey also found a polling station located on the premises to provide facilities to voters who are far from their areas of residence. Nevertheless, 14ymedio verified that very few of the passengers approached the table to obtain a ticket.
“I came to visit my family because now I got a ticket from Havana and if I wasn’t going to vote in the place where I live, I’m not going to do it here,” claimed a retiree who was waiting at the station to buy a ticket. back to the Cuban capital.
In the city of Sancti Spíritus, enthusiasm to participate in a process in which parliamentary candidates need to receive the support of more than 50% of the valid votes cast to occupy their seat in the ANPP has not been perceived in the early hours of the day either. .
Where there have been no shortage of long queues on this day is outside the bakeries, shops and other commercial premises dedicated to the sale of basic products
The only college where more than a dozen voters were seen waiting to vote is located on the Zaza Highway and its inhabitants are mainly military. “In my neighborhood even the elderly say that they are not going to vote because that doesn’t solve anything anyway,” warns Yania, a young resident of the city’s historic center.
The low attendance that is perceived up to now does not surprise anyone, the two previous occasions in which Cubans have participated in an electoral process have been in the referendum on the Family Code, last September, when abstention was almost 26%and in the municipal elections in November, in which it reached a historic 31%.
On this occasion, several opposition organizations and activists of various political colors called not to participate in the elections, with the hashtag #YoNoVoto. The abstention campaign was answered by the Cuban ruling party, which filled the official media with calls for a “united vote” to guarantee that the 470 candidates are elected.
Since early hours, the political police have prohibited several observers from leaving their homes, according to a complaint by Zelandi Pérez, coordinator of the Cuban Commission for Electoral Defense and a resident of Havana. State Security placed a police patrol outside Pérez’s house to prevent him from observing the electoral process.
Where long queues have not been lacking on this day is outside the bakeries, shops and other commercial premises dedicated to the sale of basic products. Until now, Cubans seem more interested in getting something to put on the plate than in ratifying the parliamentarians of the next legislature in their seats.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
