Cuba
On the Eve of the
February 24 Referendum to Approve the
New
Constitution
Cuban citizens living in Vietnam cast their vote in the
constitutional referendum, February 16, 2019.
MONTREAL COMING
EVENT
Tomorrow, February 24, the Cuban people go to the
polls
to
vote on the new Constitution. Already Cubans abroad have cast
their ballots. TML Weekly is publishing below a brief
summary by the newspaper Granma
on Cuba's transcendental
Constitutional Reform process. We wish the Cuban people every
success and happiness!
1. Start of the Reform Process
By agreement of the National Assembly of People's
Power
(ANPP), in an extraordinary session held on June 2, 2018, it was
agreed to initiate the Constitutional Reform process and approve,
as a first step, the creation of a Commission in charge of
preparing the proposed Constitution.
The Commission, chaired by Army General
Raúl
Castro Ruz,
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba; and with the
presence
of the
President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel
Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; and the Second Secretary of
the
Party, José
Ramón Machado Ventura, worked intensely in the drafting of
the
first version.
2. Approval of the Proposed Constitution by the
National
Assembly
After several sessions of debate, in July of 2018,
deputies approved the proposed Constitution of the Republic, and
voted to submit the document to an extensive popular
consultation.
3. Popular Consultation
The process of popular consultation extended from
August
13 to November 15, 2018 and mobilized the entire country, even
Cubans
living abroad had the opportunity to participate.
4. Approval of the Constitution by the National
Assembly
The final draft of the proposed Constitution,
discussed
and analyzed by deputies and enriched with proposals from the
population, was approved, by a roll-call vote, by the ANPP,
during the
Second Ordinary Period of
Sessions of the Ninth Legislature. Esteban Lazo Hernández,
President
of the Parliament, summoned citizens with the right to vote to a
referendum, on February 24.
5. Appointment of the National Electoral
Commission
and
Other Electoral Bodies
Members of the National Electoral Commission,
presided
by
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, were appointed December 28,
2018,
while
provincial, municipal, district and special electoral commissions
were named and constituted later.
To carry out the referendum, electoral
authorities
received
extensive training that allows them, in addition to fulfilling
their responsibilities, to explain the significance of the
constitutional reform process, as well as the contents of the
Magna Carta that is submitted to ratification.
6. Test Run
Electoral authorities described the February 17
test run
as satisfactory, noting that all processes functioned well.
7. Constitutional Referendum
The referendum will take place on February 24
throughout
the country. The vote has already taken place abroad, which went
according to plan: with transparency and total adherence to the
law.
On the importance of these elections, Miguel
Diaz-Canel
said, at the conclusion of the Second Ordinary Session Period of
the Ninth Legislature of the National Assembly of People's
Power:
"On a date as dear to us as February 24, 124
years
after the
resumption of the independence struggle led by our National Hero
José Martí, Cubans of these times, faithful to our
tradition of
struggle, will go to the polls to approve the Constitution, as an
expression of firmness and loyalty to the legacy of
Commander-in-Chief
Fidel Castro, and we will say with our vote: Yes to the
Revolution, to the sovereignty and independence of the homeland,
to unity. Yes for socialism and for the commitment to our heroes
and martyrs over more than 150 years of struggles for
freedom."
8. Proclamation of the Constitution
If the Constitution is ratified by the free and
secret
vote of the people, it will be proclaimed and will govern, from
that moment, the destiny of the country.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 6 - February
23,
2019
Article Link:
Cuba: On the Eve of the
February 24 Referendum to Approve the
New
Constitution
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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