2018 Cuban parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Cuba on 11 March 2018 to elect members of the National Assembly of People's Power, alongside provincial elections. Prior to the elections, President Raúl Castro declared he would not be seeking a new term, a new President of the Council of State will be elected by the National Assembly, his deputy, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was subsequently elected as the new president. However, Castro remained the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the country. All Cuban citizens who are over the age of 18 years, process full political rights for at least five years prior to the election are eligible to partake within the election. 50% of candidates must be nominated by people from the municipality and elected by direct vote in local assemblies, where people decide who they consider to have the qualities to best represent them. The other 50% of candidates are proposed by nominating assemblies which comprise representatives of workers, women and farmers, as well as members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.
The final list of candidates, which corresponds to the number of seats to be filled, is drawn up by the National Candidature Commission taking into account criteria such as candidates' merit, ethical values, revolutionary history. Voter requirements are set within article 132 of the Cuban constitution. All voters must be Cuban citizens who have reached the age of 16 years, who have not been declared mentally disabled by a court, who have not committed a crime; the electoral system is designed to give the winner of the election a majority. To be declared elected, one candidate must obtain more than 50% of the valid votes cast in the constituency in which they are running. If this is not attained, the seat in question remains vacant unless the Council of State decides to hold a second round of voting. On 12 March, the Cuba National Election Commission released preliminary results. In a press conference, the CNE reported that all 605 candidates had been elected as Deputies to the National Assembly
Speaker (politics)
The speaker of a deliberative assembly a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England; the speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the procedures of the chamber or house; the speaker also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial and some other situations. The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are addressed in Parliament as'Mister Speaker', if a man, or'Madam Speaker', if a woman. In other cultures other styles are used being equivalents of English "chairman" or "president". Many bodies have a speaker pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available; the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Australian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia.
The President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament. In Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house; the speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speaker's role in presiding over Canada's House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system; the Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie. By convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not vote for a measure to be approved; the Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada, the appointed upper house. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary privilege, presides over debates and voting in the "Red Chamber".
The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister. The Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails. At the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the "Speaker" in all provinces except Quebec, where the term "President" is used; the presiding officer fulfills the same role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. Parliamentarism in Italy is centered on the Presidents of the two Houses, vested in defense of the members and of the assembly as a whole. Now constitutional community highlights changes in this role. In Singapore, the Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore is the head officer of the country's legislature. By recent tradition, the Prime Minister nominates a person, who may or may not be an elected Member of Parliament, for the role; the person's name is proposed and seconded by the MPs, before being elected as Speaker. The Constitution states.
While the Speaker does not have to be an elected MP, they must possess the qualifications to stand for election as an MP as provided for in the Constitution. The Speaker cannot be a Cabinet Minister or Parliamentary Secretary, must resign from those positions prior to being elected as Speaker; the Speaker is one of the few public sector roles which allow its office-holder to automatically qualify as a candidate in the Singapore presidential elections. The Speaker is the individual elected to preside over the elected House of Commons; the speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Lords; the used "Speaker of the House of Lords" is not correct. The presiding officer of the House of Lords was until the Lord Chancellor, a member of the government and the head of the judicial branch; the Lord Chancellor did not have the same authority to discipline members of the Lords that the speaker of the Commons has in that house.
The Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial. Both chambers of the United States Congress have a presiding officer defined by the United States Constitution; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives presides over the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, is elected to that position by the entire House membership. Unlike in Commonwealth realms, the position is partisan, the Speaker plays an important part in running the House and advancing a political platform; the Vice President of the United States, as provided by the United States Constitution formally presides over the upper house, the Senate. In practice, the Vice President has a rare presence in Congress owing to responsibilities in the Executive branch and the fact that the Vice President may only vote to break a tie. In the Vice President's absence, the presiding role is delegated to the most Senior member of the majority party, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
Since the Senate's rules give little power to its non-member presider, the task of presiding over daily business is rotated among junior members of the majority party. In the forty-nine states that have a bicameral legislature, the highest leadership position in the
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the ruling political party in the Republic of Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist–Leninist model; the Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the party to be the "leading force of society and of the state". Since April 2011, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Raúl Castro, younger brother of the previous First Secretary Fidel Castro, who died on 25 November 2016; the Second Secretary has been José Ramón Machado Ventura. Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic; the original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944, it renamed itself as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations was formed from the merger of: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement The Popular Socialist Party led by Blas Roca The student-based Revolutionary Directory led by Faure ChomónOn 26 March 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba on 3 October 1965.
In Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is recognized as "the superior guiding force of society and of the State, that organizes and orients common efforts toward the high goals of the construction of socialism and the advancement toward communist society". All parties, including the Communist Party, are prohibited from publicly advertizing their organizations. For the first fifteen years of its formal existence, the Communist Party was completely inactive outside of the Politburo; the 100 person Central Committee met and it was ten years after its founding that the first regular party Congress was held. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 or 0.7% of the population, making the PCC the smallest ruling communist party in the world. In the 1970s, the party's apparatus began to develop. By the time of the first party Congress in 1975, the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members, the Central Committee was meeting and provided the organizational apparatus giving the party the leading role in society that ruling Communist parties hold.
By 1980, the party had grown to over 430,000 members and it grew further to 520,000 by 1985. Apparatuses of the party had grown to ensure that its leading cadres were appointed to key government positions; the Communist Party of Cuba held its first party Congress in 1975 and has had additional congresses in 1980, 1986, 1991, 1997 and 2011. The Seventh Congress took place from 19 April to 22 April 2016, around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, concluding with remarks by Fidel Castro. See also: List of members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991 when the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Congress, the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary since its inception while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary.
Upon Fidel Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary. The 7th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2016 following the 7th Congress; the 6th Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2011 following the 6th Congress. The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League, a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, it has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization. Compared with other ruling Communist Parties, such as in Vietnam and Laos, the Communist Party of Cuba retains a stricter adherence to the tradition of Marxism–Leninism and the traditional Soviet model; the party has been more reluctant in engaging in market reforms, though it has been forced to accept some market measures in its economy due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of economic subsidies.
The Communist Party of Cuba has favored supporting revolutions abroad and was active in assisting the ELN in Colombia, the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Maurice Bishop's New Jewel Movement in Grenada. Their most significant international role was in the civil war in Angola, where there was Cuban direction of a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force, involved in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale; this led to the withdrawal of intervening forces and in the following peace agreement the independence of Namibia from South African rule. The party maintains a policy of sending thousands of Cuban doctors, agricultural technicians, other professionals to other countries throughout the developing world. More the party has sought to support left-wing leaders such as Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Raúl Castro is campaigning to "renew" Cuba's socialist economy through incorporating new exchange and distribution systems that have been traditionally seen as "market" oriented.
This has led to some speculation that Cuba may transition towards a model more similar to that of China. List of political parties in Cuba Citations Barry Carr. Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe. "From Caribbean Backwater to Revolutionary Opportunity: Cuba's Evolving Relationship with the Comintern, 1
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, serving as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the socialist state, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro in April 2011. He has been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, the highest decision-making body since 1975. In February 2008, he was appointed the President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers, he stepped down as President on 19 April 2018, but remains the first secretary of the Communist Party, holding ultimate power and authority over state and government. Previous to being appointed acting President of Cuba in July 2006, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008, his ministerial tenure made him the longest serving minister of the armed forces. Because of his predecessor's illness, Castro was designated the President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power. Castro was made President by the National Assembly on 24 February 2008, after Fidel Castro, still ailing, announced on 19 February 2008 that he would not stand for President again.
Castro was re-elected President on 24 February 2013. Shortly thereafter, Castro announced that his second term would be his final term, that he would not seek re-election in 2018, he announced on state television on 21 December 2017 that he would step down as Cuban president on 19 April 2018 after his successor is elected by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. However, he retains his position as First Secretary of the Communist Party, Cuba's ruling party, is head of the constitutional reform commission, continues to have a seat representing Santiago de Cuba's Segundo Frente municipality in the National Assembly. Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz was born in Birán, the son of a Spanish immigrant father, Ángel Castro, a Cuban-born mother of Canarian parentage, Lina Ruz. Raúl is the youngest of three brothers: Fidel and himself, he has four sisters: Angela, Juanita and Agustina. Ángel Castro's first wife, Maria Argota raised five half-siblings of Raúl: Pedro Emilio, Maria Lidia, Manuel and Georgina.
As children, the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school. Like Fidel, Raúl attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Havana. Raúl, as an undergraduate, studied social sciences. Whereas Fidel excelled as a student, Raúl turned in mediocre performances. Raúl became a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular; the brothers participated in sometimes violent student actions. Raúl Castro's travels and contact with Soviet KGB agent Nikolai Leonov — whom he met in 1953 during a trip to the Soviet-bloc nations and again in 1955 during his exile in Mexico City — facilitated Cuba's close ties with the Soviets after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Leonov would become the USSR's KGB agent in Havana. In 1953, Raúl served as a member of the 26th of July Movement group that attacked the Moncada Barracks. During his exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations for the expedition of the boat Granma to Cuba.
When the Granma landing failed and the 82 expeditionaries were detected by government troops soon after, Raúl was one of only 12 fighters who managed to reach a safe haven in the Sierra Maestra mountains, forming the core of the nascent rebel army. As Fidel's brother and trusted right-hand man, given his proven leadership abilities during and after the Moncada attack, he was given progressively bigger commands. On 27 February 1958 Raúl was made comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank País Eastern Front"; as a result of Raúl's "Eastern Front" operations, he was not involved in the pivotal Operation Verano, but Raúl's forces remained active and grew over time. On 26 June 1958, Raúl Castro's rebels kidnapped ten Americans and two Canadians from the property of Moa Bay Mining Company on the north coast of Oriente Province; the next day rebels took hostage 24 US servicemen on leave from the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
This incident brought total kidnapped hostages to 36. US Ambassador Smith and his staff determined the kidnappings had the following objectives: Obtain worldwide publicity, regain M-26-7 prestige lost by general strike call failure, force Batista's Air Force to stop bombing rebel holds, gain public recognition from the US. Two tactical objectives the kidnapping achieved for Castro forces can be discerned from contemporaneous reporting in Time: Batista declaring a ceasefire for negotiations, forcing a reduction in Operation Verano air raids; the hostage-taking caused significant US backlash, including unfavorable public reaction, US consideration to re-establishing military support to Batista and deploying US forces to free the hostages. The hostages were released in small groups, extracting the maximum press attention. After their release, the hostages said they were treated well with some claiming to support the rebel cause. By October 1958, after reinforcement by Fidel, the brothers had about 2,000 fighters and were operating throughout Oriente province.
In December, while Che Guevara and Camilo Cien
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. A modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries; the term is similar to the idea of a senate, synod or congress, is used in countries that are current or former monarchies, a form of government with a monarch as the head. Some contexts restrict the use of the word parliament to parliamentary systems, although it is used to describe the legislature in some presidential systems where it is not in the official name. Parliaments included various kinds of deliberative and judicial assemblies, e.g. mediaeval parlements. The English term is derived from Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century Old French parlement, from parler, meaning "to talk"; the meaning evolved over time referring to any discussion, conversation, or negotiation through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups summoned by a monarch.
By the 15th century, in Britain, it had come to mean the legislature. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders; this is called tribalism. Some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council; the same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, therefore there was some form of democracy. However, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy; the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, every free male citizen could take part in the discussions. Slaves and women could not. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, therefore the ekklesia was different from the parliamentary system; the Roman Republic had legislative assemblies, who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace, the creation of alliances.
The Roman Senate controlled money and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue. However, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and 1063, there was no representation of commoners. What is considered to be the first parliament, the Cortes of León, was held in the Kingdom of León in 1188. According to the UNESCO, the Decreta of Leon of 1188 is the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system. In addition, UNESCO granted the 1188 Cortes of Alfonso IX the title of "Memory of the World" and the city of Leon has been recognized as the "Cradle of Parliamentarism". After coming to power, King Alfonso IX, facing an attack by his two neighbors and Portugal, decided to summon the "Royal Curia"; this was a medieval organisation composed of aristocrats and bishops but because of the seriousness of the situation and the need to maximise political support, Alfonso IX took the decision to call the representatives of the urban middle class from the most important cities of the kingdom to the assembly.
León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war. Prelates and commoners met separately in the three estates of the Cortes. In this meeting new laws were approved to protect commoners against the arbitrarities of nobles and the king; this important set of laws is known as the Carta Magna Leonesa. Following this event, new Cortes would appear in the other different territories that would make up Spain: Principality of Catalonia in 1192, the Kingdom of Castile in 1250, Kingdom of Aragon in 1274, Kingdom of Valencia in 1283 and Kingdom of Navarre in 1300. After the union of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile under the Crown of Castile, their Cortes were united as well in 1258; the Castilian Cortes had representatives from Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Segovia, Ávila, Cuenca, Valladolid, Madrid and Granada.
The Cortes' assent was required to pass new taxes, could advise the king on other matters. The comunero rebels intended a stronger role for the Cortes, but were defeated by the forces of Habsburg Emperor Charles V in 1521; the Cortes maintained some power, though it became more of a consultative entity. However, by the time of King Philip II, Charles's son, the Castilian Cortes had come under functionally complete royal control, with its delegates dependent on the Crown for their income; the Cortes of the Crown of Aragon kingdoms retained their power to control the king's spending with regard to the finances of those kingdoms. But after the War of the Spanish Succession and the victory of another royal house – the Bourbons – and King Philip V, their Cortes were suppressed. Claims that Spain was united under the Catholic Monarchs in the late 15th century are belied by these facts.
Vice President of Cuba
Vice Presidents of Cuba called from 1976 Vice President of the Council of State, is the second highest political position obtainable in Council of State of Cuba. There is a provision for several Vice Presidents, who are elected in the same manner as the President of Cuba. Vice President of Cuba was elected in the same ticket with the President; the position has been in use 1902–1928, 1936, 1940–1958, since 1976. Vice-Presidents elected by the National Assembly on 19 April 2018: First Vice-President: Salvador Valdés Mesa Vice-President: Ramiro Valdes Menendez Vice-President: Roberto Tomas Morales Ojeda Vice-President: Gladys Maria Bejerano Portela Vice-President: Ines Maria Chapman Vice-President: Beatriz Johnson President of Cuba List of current Vice Presidents
Elections in Cuba
Elections in Cuba involve nomination of municipal candidates by voters in nomination assemblies, nomination of provincial and national candidates by candidacy commissions, voting by secret ballot, recall elections. Cuba is a one-party state with the Communist Party of Cuba as the "leading force of society and of the state" under the national constitution, although elections are nominally non-partisan; the nature of the political participation in Cuba has fostered discussion among political writers and philosophers. Since Cuba became a one-party republic, the country's political system has been condemned by opposition groups, human rights groups, foreign Western governments as undemocratic, a dictatorship or an authoritarian or totalitarian state, with all public elections considered to be only show elections. Although the media is operated under supervision by the Party's Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies", the Cuban government contends that the system is democratic.
Some observers say the same, describing it as a "grassroots", a "centralized", or a "revolutionary democracy". Fidel Castro was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011, was in power first as Prime Minister and as President, from 1959 until 2008. Castro's brother Raúl Castro was designated Fidel's successor at 5th Communist Party congress in October 1997. Fidel Castro retired on 19 April 2011, leaving his brother as the sole candidate for First Secretary. According to the constitution, Cuba is a socialist republic where all members or representative bodies of state power are elected and subject to recall and the masses control the activity of the state agencies, the deputies and officials. Elections in Cuba have two phases: election of delegates to the Municipal Assembly, election of deputies to the Provincial and National Assemblies. Candidates for municipal assemblies are nominated on an individual basis at local levels by the local population at nomination assemblies.
Candidates for provincial assemblies and the National Assembly are nominated by the municipal assemblies from lists compiled by national and municipal candidacy commissions. Suggestions for nominations are made at all levels by mass organizations, trade unions, people's councils, student federations; the final list of candidates for the National Assembly, one for each district, is drawn up by the National Candidacy Commission. Anyone older than 16 other than those mentally incapacitated, imprisoned, or deprived of their political rights can vote and be nominated to these posts. No political parties are permitted to campaign. Instead, voters can consult candidates' photographs posted on public locations. All elections take place by secret ballot. Suffrage is afforded to Cuban citizens resident for two years on the island who are aged over sixteen years and who have not been found guilty of a criminal offense; the election of municipal assembly delegates involves nomination by voters in nomination assemblies, compilation of posting of candidate biographies, voting by secret ballot, recall.
Municipal assemblies are elected a half years. Municipal elections are non-partisan. Nomination assemblies are held about a month before the election in areas within the electoral districts. During regular elections, from 70% to over 90% of the electorate attend the nomination assemblies. Municipal candidates must be at least 16 years old. In elections held on 21 October 2007, turnout was reported to be 8.1 million voters 95% of the population eligible to vote, less than the last such election on April 17, 2005, where voter turnout was 97%. Elections were held in 2010 and 2013. Municipal candidacy commissions submit nominations for provincial delegates to provincial candidacy commissions; the provincial candidacy commissions produce the final list of provincial assembly candidates. Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power, has 609 members who sit for five-year terms. Members of the National Assembly represent multiple-member constituencies, with one Deputy for each 20,000 inhabitants.
Candidates for the National Assembly are chosen by candidacy commissions chaired by local trade union officials and composed of elected representatives of "mass organisations" representing workers, women and farmers. The provincial and municipal candidacy commissions submit nominations to the National Candidacy Commission; the municipal candidacy commissions produce slates of recommended candidates for each electoral district submit nominations for candidates that are municipal delegates, first submit their nominations to their municipal assembly who may approve or replace nominations. The final list of candidates for the National Assembly, one for each district, is drawn up by the National Candidacy Commission, taking into account criteria such as candidates’ popularity, patriotism, ethical values and “revolutionary history.” At least half of the National Assembly candidates selected must have been elected as delegates to these assemblies. Although there is only one candidate per seat, candidates must, in theory, obtain the support of 50% of voters to be elected.
If a candidate were to fails to gain 50% of the vote, a new candidate would have to be chosen. However, this has never occurred. Elections to the National Assembly were held on 24 February 2008. According to the Cuban Ministry of External Affairs, at the October 2002 electio
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