[NYTr] Cuban National Election Set for January 20
 
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:09:50 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Cuba Convokes Parliamentary, Provincial Elections

Havana, Nov 20 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban State Council has set January
20, 2008 as the date for the elections of delegates to Provincial
Assemblies of People's Power and deputies to National Parliament for a
term of five years.

The call, signed by First Vice President of the State Council Raul
Castro Ruz and broadcast on Tuesday by TV Noticias, notes that the
second stage of the July 9 general elections will also take place on
that date.

The announcement comes four days after the Municipal Assemblies were
constituted, elected in the first stage of general elections in which
more than the 96 percent of Cuban voters participated.

hr ccs gdb dsa PL-37

                        ***

AP - Nov 20, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CUBA_ELECTIONS?SITE=CAVEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Critical Cuban elections in January

By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press Writer

HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba announced Tuesday it has set Jan. 20 for national
elections that are part of the process of determining whether ailing
leader Fidel Castro continues as president.

The ruling, signed by interim leader Raul Castro and read on state
television, set the date for elections to provincial and national
assemblies - voting that is held every five years.

There was no explicit mention of Fidel Castro, but the 81-year-old
leader of the Cuban Revolution must be re-elected to the national
parliament before he could repeat as president of the Council of State
to remain in full power.

Raul, 76, is the council's first vice president

The date for the national elections had not been previously announced,
but earlier indications were that the vote would not be held until
March or April. There was no word on why the balloting will be held in
January.

Fidel Castro stepped aside on July 31, 2006, after undergoing emergency
intestinal surgery, provisionally ceding his powers to Raul and a team
of other top leaders. He has not been seen in public since, appearing
only in official photographs and videos and regularly writing essays
with mostly international themes.

The parliament, known in Cuba as the National Assembly, elects a new
council every five years, several weeks after deputies are elected. It
was not announced when the new National Assembly would meet for the
first time to renew the top council members.

The Constitution calls for the council's first vice president,
currently Raul, to fill the presidential slot when vacated. Fidel,
Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959, held the council presidency
since its 1976 creation.

B) 2007 The Associated Press. 

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