[NYTr] Cuban Council of State Sets October Date for Municipal Elections Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:10:38 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles Cuban Council of State Calls for Municipal Elections in October Havana, July 10 (acn) The Council of State of the Republic of Cuba issued a call on Monday to hold general elections next October to choose delegates to the municipal and provincial assemblies as well as deputies to the National Assembly or Parliament. According to the note, the first round to choose delegates to municipal assemblies will take place on October 21st. The second round, for the electoral districts in which none of the candidates obtained more than 50% of the valid votes in the first round, will take place on October 28th. The announcement states that the date to choose delegates to the provincial assemblies and to the National Assembly will be set at the proper time. According to the Cuban Constitution, delegates to provincial assemblies are appointed for a five-year term while municipal assemblies have to be renovated every two-and-a-half years. The Electoral Law of 1992 establishes that general elections include the appointment of the Parliament's president, vice president and secretary as well as the president, vice presidents, secretary and the other members of the Council of State. The call is signed by First Vice President RaC:l Castro Ruz. According to a note published on Tuesday by the Granma news daily, it was also announced that the Council of State chose the members of the National Electoral Commission. They are MarC-a Esther Reus GonzC!lez, who will be its president; RubC)n PC)rez RodrC-guez, as vice president; and TomC!s AmarC!n DC-az, as secretary. Other members of the National Electoral Commission are Juan AizpurC:a RodrC-guez, Miguel PC)rez MartC-n, Col. Leonides RodrC-guez Rojas, Manuel RC-os Medina, Guido Urrutia ValdC)s, Gisela Bell Heredia, Arnel Medina Cuenca, Juan Mendoza DC-az, JosC) L. Flores del Sol, Mayra DC-az GarcC-a, Miguel Lara Giner, Reinaldo Montero de Miranda, Lt. Col. Julio A. Torres GarcC-a and Minerva ValdC)s Temprana. *** [Reuters' take on the election date being set] Reuters - Jul 9, 2007 http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0923689920070709 Cuba assembly vote could clarify Castro future HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba called municipal elections on Monday for October 21, the start of a voting process that could clarify by early next year whether convalescing Fidel Castro will continue as head of state. A decree signed by acting President Raul Castro set the date for elections that will renew municipal and provincial assemblies and, in turn, the National Assembly, which picks the Council of State and the president of Cuba every five years. Fidel Castro has held the post since the current political system was set up 30 years ago. For the first time since his 1959 revolution, the 80-year-old leader was forced to hand over power temporarily to his brother last July after undergoing intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since, though he has recovered weight and returned to public life by writing columns from his hospital room and receiving foreign dignitaries. "The big question is whether Fidel Castro will preside the Council of State," said a European ambassador. "There are people in government saying he is too old." Castro did not attend the June funeral of Vilma Espin, Raul Castro's wife and one of the most powerful women in Cuba's political system, a sign that he may be too weak to resume governing in anything other than an advisory capacity. Western diplomats says Raul Castro is firmly in control of the communist state, running day-to-day government, and could formally become president next year. Fidel Castro is expected to retain the powerful position of first secretary of the ruling Communist Party. "The Council of State calls general municipal elections to choose the delegates to the Municipal and Provincial Assemblies and the deputies of the National Assembly of the People's Power," said the decree read on Cuban television news. Cuba is a one-party state. Candidates to the assemblies do not have to be card-holding members of the Communist Party, but they usually are. The 603-seat National Assembly is a rubber-stamp parliament which meets only twice a year for a day or so. Its members include Cuba's only cosmonaut, its most famous folk singer, its most successful painter and the country's TV weatherman. B) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================