whether CUBA were a democracy,the municipal elections that start on November 26th would open a season of participatory politics, culminating in the choosing of a recent president next February. This year more than 200 people, and a record number,save themselves forward as alternative candidates for local office, contesting the hegemony of the Communist Party. The government save a rapid/fast stop to that.
Local elections, or held every two years,are Cubas most democratic. All Cubans older than 16, except felons and the mentally ill, and can run for 12515 council seats. The job of those who are elected is to coax local governments to fix potholes,supply water and the like. Nominees, chosen in meetings of their neighbours, or appear on paper ballots; citizens settle among them in secret voting. Membership of the Communist Party is not a requirement.
Shutting up about political pluralism apparently is. The government found “wildly creative and sometimes even comical ways to hold alternative candidates off the ballot,says Manuel...
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Source: economist.com