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Cuban Parliament holds hearing on
electoral system
BY SUSANA LEE —
Granma daily staff writer —
WITH
a profound analysis of the historical roots of
Cuba’s electoral system and its unique
characteristics, which are based on the broadest
popular participation throughout the election
process, making it into the basis of the political
authority held by People’s Power delegates, Ricardo
Alarcón de Quesada, a member of the Political Bureau
and president of Parliament, summed up the
parliamentary hearing on the issue.
Convened by the National Assembly of People’s Power,
the hearing became an encounter with history,
beginning with a presentation by Professor Eduardo
Torres Cuevas, winner of the National Social
Sciences Award, and speeches by doctors Eduardo
Lara, a Parliament official, and Fabio Raimundo
Torrado, from the Office of the Second Secretary of
the Party, who reviewed Cuba’s constitutional and
legal history from the Constitution of Guáimaro,
under the Republic-in-Arms in 1869, to date.
The
second main presentation was made by Jorge Lezcano,
a member of the Central Committee and a Parliament
official, whose subject was “The Cuban Electoral
System: Particularities and Challenges,” from which
the hearing’s name was taken. In a direct and
didactic manner, he addressed outstanding concepts
and issues of the National Assembly, differences
with other parliaments, the role of People’s Power
delegates and basic aspects that make it into a
point of reference.
Armando Hart, member of the Central Committee and
director of the Martí Program Office, proposed that
two Parliamentary commissions should draw up a
program for studying the Cuban Constitution and the
Cuban constitutional and legal tradition that backs
it. In his turn, Lázaro Barredo, editor-in-chief of
the Granma daily newspaper, added his own
proposal for ninth-grade students to study the
Constitution as part of their Civics curriculum,
before they reach voting age.
(Translated by Granma International)
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