Nova Scotia Cuba Association

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Cuba: the new Constitution

Over 6.8 million Cubans voted Yes last Sunday, thus ratifying the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, according to preliminary information offered Monday afternoon in Havana by Alina Balseiro, president of the National Electoral Commission.

That number of votes represents 86.85 percent of support with respect to the total votes cast, which were 7,848,343, which in turn represents 84.41 percent of the updated list of voters.

Of the total number of ballots cast, 7,522,569 (95.85 percent) were valid, 198,674 (2.53 percent) were blank, and 127,100 (1.62 percent) were annulled.

The NO option received 706,400 votes, equivalent to nine percent of the total votes cast.

A total of 9,298,277 voters were called to vote this Sunday, according to the updated list, which includes more than 634,000 inclusions that respond to the possibility given by Cuban law that voters may exercise their right to vote in a polling station different from the one that corresponds to their place of residence.

Balseiro recalled that for this reason these are preliminary figures and in the next few days the official results will be reported, including the vote abroad, after the process of validation and compatibility of the list of voters, said the official during a press conference in front of Cuban and foreign media.

She affirmed that the day passed in a very satisfactory and favorable way with a high attendance to the citizen's colleges and the electoral authorities fulfilled the role that corresponded to them.

The Magna Carta that was submitted for consultation this Sunday was approved by the National Assembly of People's Power on December 22 after 60 percent of its content was modified based on the proposals emanating from the process of popular consultation that took place from August 13 to November 15, 2018.

This Sunday Cubans went to the polls in a day characterized by the transparency in the process and the massiveness of the voters who had to answer the question: Do you ratify the new Constitution of the Republic?