[NYTr] Cuba Gears Up for Jan 20 General Elections Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:06:38 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles Cuba Gears Up for General Elections Havana, Dec 24 (acn) A detailed report on the electoral rolls that will be issued for the second stage of the general elections in the country will be presented to the head of the Cuban National Electoral Commission (CEN). On January 20, Cubans will elect a total of 1,291 delegates to provincial governments, and also the deputies to the parliament (614) for a five-year term. CEN's president, Maria Esther Reus, said collating the registers is one of the most important tasks within the preparation process. The rolls include the full name, date of birth and address of all Cuban citizens over 16 years with the legal capacity to exercise their vote, without race, gender nor social background distinctions. Only those who have been sentenced for crimes or are mentally disabled are not included. Reus said the district's electoral commissions and municipal ID offices will receive regular reports on updates and modifications that should be done to the lists. Likewise, those who for strict reasons can not go to the polls in his/her residence area and are accepted by CEN will be included in the rolls of the requested district. In addition, a total of 600 voting tables will be placed at airports, bus stations and recreation facilities, so that voters on those places can exercise their right to vote. *** Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Raul Castro Meets with Santiago Voters Santiago de Cuba, Dec 24 (Prensa Latina) Cuba's First Vice President Raul Castro conversed on Monday with residents in El Cobre, electoral district seven, 12 miles from Santiago, which nominated President Fidel Castro as candidate. The vice president highlighted the modest origin and high cultural level of those proposed by that district, and recalled that he is from that eastern region. Raul Castro was born between the current boundaries of Santiago de Cuba and Holguin and he spent most of his childhood and youth in this region of the island. He noted that also except for Fidel Castro, none of those nominated in this district were been born during the attack on Moncada Garrison on July 26, 1953, which action marked the beginning of armed actions against Fulgencio Batista. The vice president sent greetings to voters and praised the quality of those candidates in this district, which will elect deputies and delegates to the 14 People's Power Provincial Assemblies on January 20. hr ccs abo mc PL-21 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================