The National Electoral Commission reported that until five o’clock in the Sunday afternoon over 7.5 million Cubans had gone to the polls, which represents 81.53 percent of the total registered voters in the updated lists.
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, president of the electoral body, told the press that the results are favorable and in them the massiveness of Cubans stands out, since on this occasion three percentage points were registered above for the same period during the second stage of the general elections of March 2018.
The official also explained that this result is preliminary and that on Monday the results will be released with a closing date of six in the afternoon this Sunday, although the official figures will be public once the process of reviewing, organizing and validating the results ends, which will happen in the next few days.
From seven o’clock in the morning, more than 24,000 polling stations opened their doors throughout the country, to which the population flocked to express its vote on a text that introduces modifications in the structure of the State and recognizes private property as a supplementary actor in the national economy.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, exercised his right to vote in an electoral college in the capital municipality of Playa, to endorse the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. After depositing his ballot, Raúl exchanged with the pioneers who guarded the ballot boxes and with the members of the polling station.
Around 8:30 a.m. Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, exercised this right and told the press that the Constitution that was endorsed, now strengthened thanks to the popular consultation to which it was subjected, is also to give continuity to the Revolution and Socialism, to perfect it, and reaffirms the unity of Cubans, immersed in economic tasks and preparation for defense.
Salvador Valdés Mesa, first vice-president of the Councils of State and Ministers, said that the new Magna Carta responds to the current and future interests of the people and even after a multitudinous popular consultation experienced the modification of 60% of its articles, which evidences its democratic character.
José Ramón Machado Ventura, Second Secretary of the PCC, highlighted the transparency and popular participation in the entire process of analysis, debate and collective construction of the document, which contributed to its improvement.
The vice president of the Council of State, Inés María Chapman, said, once the new constitution had been endorsed, a period of intense legislative activity was taking place to update fifty laws and another important group of norms and regulations, among them the Family Code, regulations related to physical planning, water use, foreign investment, private work, the environment and the electoral law itself.
Source: www.cubadebate.cu
