[NYTr] Cuba's Municipal Assemblies Formed; Alarcon Highlights Cuban Democracy

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Alarcon Extols Cuban Democracy

Havana, Nov 16 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Parliament President Ricardo
Alarcon highlighted the strengthening of democracy in Cuba with the
setting up on Friday of 169 municipal assemblies of the People"s Power
nationwide.

Alarcon attended Friday"s inauguration of the Municipal Assembly of the
People"s Power in Plaza de la Revolucion Municipality at Havana
University.

Present at the ceremony were Carlos Lage, vice president of the Cuban
State Council, Ruben Rodriguez, vice president of the National Election
Commission, and Jorge Victor Ramiro, president of the Municipal
Election Commission.

After noting the importance of the process, Alarcon pointed out that
the efforts to improve, polish and boost proficiency and representation
within the People"s Power system maintains it as a true expression of
the will and interests of the people.

The Parliament president added that US President George W. Bush and
other advocates of bourgeois democracy are trying to globalize a failed
and unpopular model.

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Cuban Municipal Assemblies up Today

Havana, Nov 16 (Prensa Latina) The 169 Peoples' Power Municipal
Assemblies will be created Friday in Cuba, for a new two and a half
year mandate.

About 15,236 delegates elected to those government bodies will meet in
sessions, according to the current Electoral Law.

Once the constitutive proceedings are carried out, those delegates will
elect president and vice president of the municipal assembly through
secret vote, as of proposals presented by the candidature commissions.

According to the legislation, the project to cover those posts is made
up of candidates elected among delegates of the assembly, but anyone
can be rejected if they obtain half plus one delegates present in the
session.

The new members of those entities will elect those who will represent
Cubans in the Provincial Assemblies and the Parliament for a five-year
period, with date still undefined.

That process and the corresponding elections are the second stage of
the general elections in Cuba, convened by the Council of State July 9.

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