Election results

Cuban
Radar                                                                               Read Spanish Version

Election
results

A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau

A
preliminary report on the results of the recent January 20 elections
to choose 614 members of the National Assembly of Popular Power
(parliament) and the 1,201 delegates to the provincial assemblies was
presented on Monday, January 21.

In
a press conference, president of the National Electoral Commission
María Ester Reus said that 96 percent of voters cast their
ballots. Cubans have a right to vote at 16 years of age, but voting
is not mandatory.

Ms.
Reus, who is also Minister of Justice, added that 95.2 percent of the
ballots were valid and 91 percent of them were in favor of the full
candidates’ list.

Voters
could vote in any of two ways: one, selecting the candidates of their
choice or voting for the full candidacy. The latter was called the
“united vote” and was promoted through all mass media.

According
to the Electoral Commission’s president, blank votes were 3.73
percent of the total, while annulled ballots were 1.04 percent.

Shortly
after voting at his electoral district, acting president Raúl
Castro told the press that the new parliament will be inaugurated on
February 24 “in a complex stage in which we must face different
situations and great decisions step by step.”

The
National Assembly will elect the new Council of State as well as its
president, a position held presently by Fidel Castro.

China
supplies Cuba with clean technology

Radio
Habana Cuba reported on January 18 that Cuba and China signed, in
Beijing, a contract for the purchase of six wind-powered generators
from an undisclosed Chinese manufacturer.

According
to the information, the contract includes training of Cuban personnel
in the operation and maintenance of the equipment.

The
new generators will be installed at the wind generating park under
construction in the north coast of the province of Holguín, in
the eastern region of the country.

Cuba
has conducted feasibility studies for the use of wind-generated
energy in different areas of the island for the purpose of saving
fuel and environmental conservation. At present there are generators
of this type in the Isle of Youth (south of Havana), and in tourist
areas in the keys north of the province of Ciego de Ávila.

California
delegation in Cuba

California
Secretary of Agriculture Arthur
Kawuamura arrived in Cuba accompanied by a large number of
Californian business persons.

Kawamura
declared to the press that the visit is to explore the market and
promote products that his state would be able to sell to the Cuban
entities. Among the close to 400 products, Secretary Kawamura
stressed wheat and cotton.

For
his part, ALIMPORT president Pedro Álvarez stressed that the
policy of blockade imposed by the U.S. government limits trade.
ALIMPORT is the Cuban government agency in charge of food imports.

In
spite of U.S. policies toward Cuba, trade between both countries
reached $600 million in 2007.

Oil
for Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture

The
tanker Fourmoons arrived in Jagua Bay, at the city of
Cienfuegos, with a load of 53,000 tons of crude oil from Puerto
La Cruz, Venezuela.

The
oil will be refined during the initial stage of the Camilo Cienfuegos
plant, inaugurated December 21 by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez and Raúl Castro, Cuba’s acting president.

The
refinery, located in Central South Cuba, some 260 kilometers from the
Cuban capital, is part of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas
(ALBA), the fruit of close relations, cooperation and complementation
between the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.