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Main articles: Politics of Cuba and Elections in Cuba
Revolution Square: José Martí Monument designed Enrique Luis Varela, sculpture by Juan José Sicre and finished in 1958. [1]
Revolution Square: José Martí Monument designed Enrique Luis Varela, sculpture by Juan José Sicre and finished in 1958. [1]

Cuba is a constitutional socialist republic with Communist Party of Cuba (PVV) declared to be the highest leading force of society and of the state. The PCC leader, Fidel Castro, is both President of the Council of State (President of Cuba) and President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister of Cuba). The President of Cuba is chosen by the National Assembly of People’s Power, for a five-year term. There is no limit to the number of terms the President can serve, and Castro has been President since the adoption of the current Constitution in 1976. The Premable of the Constitution declares that Cuba has "decided to carry forward the triumphant Revolution...under the leadership of Fidel Castro...with the final objective of building a communist society".

No political parties other than the Communist Party are permitted[citation needed]. Although the Constitution offers guarantees of freedom of speech and assembly, these are regulated by Article 62, which states that "None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to... the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build socialism and communism. Violations of this principle can be punished by law." In practice, public opposition to the Communist Party or the communist system is illegal[citation needed] and dissidents are regularly imprisoned.

Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), has 609 members who serve five-year terms. All Cuban citizens aged over sixteen years and who have not been found guilty of a criminal offence can vote. Article 131 of the Constitution says that voting shall be "through free, equal and secret vote." Article 136 says: "In order for deputies or delegates to be considered elected they must get more than half the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts."

In practice, the process for nominating candidates for election to the National Assembly is controlled by the PCC and organisations affiliated to or controlled by it. As a result, at the National Assembly elections of January 2003, there was only one candidate in each of the 609 electoral districts. More than 70% of these were members of the PCC, and the remainder were non-party candidates approved by the PCC.

The Cuban government and its supporters maintain that Cuba is a democracy, because voters have the right to reject the single candidate on the ballot paper, and because if 50% of voters do so a new candidate must be nominated. The Cuba Solidarity Campaign, a group based in the United States, says: “Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties… Instead the candidates are nominated individually by grass-roots organisations and by individual electors… The successful candidate is chosen by secret ballot. The Electoral Law of 1992 stipulates that delegates to the municipal and provincial assemblies and the 601 deputies to the National Assembly are all elected by popular suffrage using a secret ballot… Unlike the case in other states, which invariably criticize Cuba for being ‘undemocratic’, voter turn-out in Cuba is high. In April 2005, 97.7% of electors came out to vote for their deputies to the municipal assemblies.” [2]

International human rights organisations and organisations which promote democracy and free elections reject this view. They argue that Cuba is not a democracy, because

    • No party other than the PCC is allowed
    • No candidates other than those approved by the PCC can stand for election
    • The mass media are completely controlled by the PCC
    • It is not possible to publicly advocate the rejection of PCC-supported candidates
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International human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch are regularly critical of the denial of political choice in Cuba. HRW noted in 2002: “The country's lack of democracy and intolerance of domestic dissent remained unique in the region.” Commenting ion former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Cuba, HRW said: “Carter drew attention to some of the country’s most serious human rights problems. A one-party state, Cuba restricted nearly all avenues of political dissent… The government frequently silenced its critics by using short-term detentions, house arrests, travel restrictions, threats, surveillance, politically-motivated dismissals from employment, and other forms of harassment. Cuba’s legal and institutional structures were at the root of rights violations. The rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and the press were strictly limited under Cuban law.” [3].