MIAMI, United States. – A Cuban deputy abstained from voting this Wednesday in the constitutive session of the National Assembly of Popular Power (ANPP) and the Council of State, according to a video initially published by official media.
After the vote by show of hands to “elect” the president, vice president and secretary of the Council of State, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez indicated, erroneously, that Esteban Lazo Hernández, Ana María Mari Machado and Homero Alcosta Álvarez had been approved “unanimously” to occupy those charges.
However, shortly after the official corrected herself: “We have learned, at this time, that when the previous candidacy was being submitted for approval, an exception was made and we did not appreciate it. That is why we point out that the previous candidacy was approved by a majority and not unanimously, ”she said.
However, so far no official or official media has revealed the identity of the deputy or deputy who abstained.
Balseiro Gutiérrez did specify that Lazo Hernández had obtained 443 votes, which represents 96.1 percent of the total; Mari Machado 457 (99.13 percent) and Acosta Álvarez 456 (98.92 percent).
In addition, he explained that, of the ballots deposited in the polls, 461 were valid. In 437 of them, the deputies opted for a united vote. Meanwhile, one was deposited blank (the only abstention).
In the same session of Parliament, Miguel Diaz-Canel was unanimously designated “president” of the Republic of Cuba. In the presentation of his candidacy for the position of “president”, Consuelo Martín Baeza, president of the Parliamentary Candidacy Commission, said that Díaz-Canel had led the country “with dedication, firmness and courage in difficult circumstances in recent years,” according to the official newspaper report Granma.
In addition, the official praised her work style, supposedly focused on taking advantage of “collective intelligence to face problems”, on “the philosophy that one alone does not know more than all together” and on the “spirit of optimism in the worst circumstances.”
For the position of Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa was also unanimously ratified, whose performance in this responsibility was praised in recent years, addressing strategic issues such as agriculture, food sovereignty, strengthening Government and agroecological development”, according to Granma.
