2007-09-08.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas and Minervo Lázaro Chil Siret, In the name of
the Coordinating Council of the Christian Liberation Movement
Inspired by the ideals proclaimed in the Cuban Forum Campaign, we have
submitted a citizens' petition to the offices of the National Assembly
of People's Power, which calls for the Electoral Law, Law No. 72, to be
repealed and for a new electoral law to be approved that will guarantee
the right of Cuban citizens to elect and be elected.
The current Electoral Law allows for only one candidate for each seat in
the Provincial Assemblies and one candidate for each seat in the
National Assembly of People's Power and does not allow citizens to
choose between different candidates.
Law No. 72 establishes the Candidacy Commissions as the only bodies
authorized to propose candidates for delegates to the Provincial
Assembly and members of the National Assembly of People's Power. This
impedes citizens from freely nominating the candidates that they prefer
to these positions.
These provisions are disguised within text of this Law by mechanisms
such as the "united vote" and the possibility that an elector may vote
for all of the candidates that are on their ballot instead of voting for
his own delegate and member. If on the one hand, the Law is full of
contradictions with the Constitution and with the right to sovereignty,
which resides within the people; on the other, the environment of
intolerance and lack of respect for liberty and civil and political
rights makes it impossible for the electoral process to be truly democratic.
The Cuban people want change, peaceful change, and they deserve to have
the rights and the abilities to define those changes and to decide their
own fate. The Electoral Law and elections constitute the sphere in which
the right to sovereignty may be either gained or lost. Therefore, we
call on all Cubans to review and to support this petition for a new
Electoral Law and for an environment in which freedom of expression and
the right of all citizens to participate, according to their own
criteria, in the political life of our Homeland. Many Cubans are
unjustly imprisoned for peacefully defending these rights.
There are different opinions on the reality currently faced by Cubans,
different opinions on the past and different opinions on what life in
the future should be like. This diversity should not be a source of
conflict among Cubans, but rather it should enrich our lives. But there
is one thing on which we should all agree: that all Cubans have the
right to all of their rights. In order for Cubans to decide on a better
future for all and work together to achieve it, it is indispensable that
the laws guarantee the exercise of these rights. An essential right is
the right of citizens to freely and democratically elect their
representatives in all levels of government.
Elections are not an ordinary event. If they are truly free and
democratic, they will be the step which will define the path for our
people toward a new era of our history, where we will overcome that
which divides us and challenges us, that which attacks our dignity. It
will be an era in which we will save all that is good and noble in our
society. But this future can only come to pass if we are free men and
women. In the present moment of our history, Cuba needs transparency and
trust, and this can only be achieved by respecting the rights and ideas
of all.
For this future to transpire, an electoral process may not be imposed on
Cubans with the same law, the same regulations and the same environment
which for years have impeded the people from expressing themselves
freely. For this new era, Cuba needs new laws and new elections. But
most of all, we need to transform our hearts and mind so that they too
are made new and better.
Our people are raising their gaze towards the future, and they want to
see, and have the right to see, a new horizon of reconciliation, peace
and liberty.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas Minervo Lázaro Chil Siret
In the name of the Coordinating Council of the Christian Liberation
Movement. Havana, August 30, 2007.
CITIZENS' PETITION TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE'S POWER REQUEST
FOR THE ABOLITION OF ELECTORAL LAW No. 72 AND DISCUSSION AND APPROVAL OF
A NEW ELECTORAL LAW
Mr. Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada
President of the National Assembly of People's Power
To the Delegates of the National Assembly of People's Power
Dear Compatriots:
As Cuban citizens, supported by article 63 of the Constitution of the
Republic, we present you this petition based on the following
considerations and precedents:
CONSIDERATIONS:
1. Cuban citizens are not permitted to nominate candidates to be
delegates to the Provincial Assembly or nominate candidates to the
National Assembly of People's Power. The reason for this is that Chapter
Two of Title V of Electoral Law No. 72 stipulates that the Municipal
Assemblies of the People's Power "nominate" candidates in accordance
with the proposals developed and presented by the Candidacy Commissions
created for this purpose by the Electoral Law. Therefore, the only
citizens allowed to be candidates are those who are proposed by the
commissions and approved by the Municipal Assemblies. This practice is
not in accord with Article 133 of the Constitution, which states that
"citizens in full possession of political rights have the right to be
elected, be they men or women." Therefore, the establishment of the
Candidacy Commissions that deny citizens their right to nominate and be
nominated is an exclusionary practice, and in our judgment, it is
unconstitutional.
2.Citizens may neither elect the delegates of the Provincial Assembly
nor the members of the National Assembly of People's Power given that
article 92 of Law No. 72 establishes that "each Municipal Assembly
nominates an equal number of candidates for delegates to the Provincial
Assembly and for members of the National Assembly of People's Power."
Given the wording of this law, it is obvious that there may only be one
candidate, that is to say, one single candidate for each seat in the
Provincial Assembly and in the National Assembly.
3. The Law does not permit the elector to choose between candidates to
be his Delegate to the Provincial Assembly or his Member of the National
Assembly, that is to say the person that will represent the electors
from that specific district in the corresponding assembly. Article 71 of
the Constitution states that "the National Assembly of People's Power is
comprised of members elected by a free, direct and secret vote by
electors, in proportion and in accordance with the procedure established
by the law."
But it is evident that Law No. 72 does not establish a procedure for
citizens to choose a candidate, since they cannot elect a member from a
choice of various candidates. Article 110 of the Electoral Law
establishes that "in the election of the delegates of the Provincial
Assemblies and members of the National Assembly of People's Power, the
elector may vote for the candidates that appear on the corresponding
ballot."
Therefore, in reality, the law does not establish a procedure by which
electors in each district may choose a delegate to represent them in the
Provincial Assembly and a member to represent them in the National
Assembly. The fact that the elector does not vote to elect his delegate
in the Provincial Assembly and the National Assembly, but may vote for
various candidates under the "united vote" concept, may give the
appearance that there are various candidates. However, there is only one
candidate for each seat in both the Provincial and National Assemblies.
If in each corresponding district, as would be logical, the electors
simply elected their delegate to the Provincial Assembly and their
Member of the National Assembly then only one name would have to be
appear on the ballot, that of the only candidate. The law hides this
grave contradiction through the mirage of the united vote and the
inconsistency that the elector may vote, at the same time, for all of
the candidates that appear on their ballot.
4. What's more, the law does not even establish a transparent process
that permits citizens to confirm or reject candidates on the
single-candidate ballots. Law No.72 does not stipulate that each
candidate has to be approved by the majority of electors in order to be
elected. The Electoral Law simply stipulates that in order to be elected
a candidate requires fifty per cent plus one of the votes cast. But only
positive votes are valid, this is to say, those that approve of one,
many or all of the candidates. There is no voting booth where one can go
to say "NO." Therefore, if the majority of the electors do not wish to
approve of the single candidates, they have no way of expressing their
desire, and their votes are worthless. The single candidates may be
elected by a minority of voters; even one voter could elect all the
candidates because his single vote would constitute a majority of votes
cast. Thus in addition to being unable to elect between candidates,
voters are unable to reject the single candidates presented.
5. Article 125 of the Electoral Law states that "In the event that the
requirements of the direct vote established by the Constitution of the
Republic and this Law to elect delegates to the Provincial Assemblies or
to elect members of the National Assembly of People's Power are
satisfied and subsequently vacant seats remain for whatever reason, the
Council of State is empowered to choose between the following
alternatives: (a) leaving the seats vacant until the next general
elections, (b) assigning the Municipal Assembly of People's Power,
constituted as an electoral college, the function of electing the
Provincial Assembly Delegate or the National Assembly of People's Power
Member, or (c) calling new elections." Assigning the Council of State
the power to leave the seat vacant or of assigning the task of electing
the Provincial Assembly Delegate or National Assembly Member in question
is to deny the electors of that district their sovereign right to choose
their representative Delegate to the Provincial Assembly or Member of
the National Assembly.
6. Article 93 of the Electoral Law declares that "in each municipality,
up to fifty per cent of the total number of candidates for the position
of Delegates to the Provincial Assembly and candidates for the position
of Member of the National Assembly may be selected from among the
Delegates to the Municipal Assembly of People's Power." In practice,
this article of Law No. 72 reserves candidacies, and consequently seats,
in the Provincial Assemblies and the National Assembly, for
personalities and leaders who could not otherwise be nominated by the
Municipal Assemblies. In effect, the article legalizes elitism.
7. Article 6 of the Electoral Law establishes that "in order to
exercise the right to suffrage…all Cubans must be permanent residents in
the country for a period of no less than two years before the
elections." This article is discriminatory and exclusionary as it denies
Cuban citizens who reside permanently abroad their constitutional right
to vote. This violates article 132 of the Constitution, which states
that "All Cubans, both men and women, older than sixteen years of age,
have the right to vote."
PRECEDENTS:
1. On December 10, 1997, we presented a citizens petition to the
National Assembly of People's Power calling on it to revise and
transform the Electoral Law, since this law does not abide by the
constitution because it impedes citizens from nominating and electing
candidates as delegates to the Provincial Assemblies and as members of
the National Assembly of People's Power.
2. On May 10, 2002, we presented a proposal for a bill entitled the
Varela Project which was signed by 11,020 electors. The proposal
contains the basis for a new Electoral law that does abide by the
current Constitution and that guarantees the exercise of popular
sovereignty.
3. On October 3, 2003, we presented the Varela Project once more to the
National Assembly of People's Power, with the signatures and personal
information of an additional 14,384 electors.
WE REQUEST THE FOLLOWING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE'S POWER:
1. That it immediately repeal the current Electoral Law, Law No. 72 of
October 29, 1992.
2. That a new Electoral Law be approved that truly guarantees all Cuban
citizens, without exclusion, their right to elect and be elected as
enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic.
3. That it stipulate that the Council of State call new general
elections as soon as possible once the new electoral law is approved,
and that these general elections be free and democratic.
4. That it change the laws to guarantee all citizens freedom of
expression, respect for the diversity of opinion that exists in society,
and access to the media by all citizens, regardless of their opinions.
Respectfully,
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Peñón No. 221
entre Monasterio y Ayuntamiento
Cerro, Ciudad de la Habana
CI: 52022900800
Minervo Lázaro Chil Siret
Edif. 19 Apto. 1106,
Rpto. Pastorita, Cienfuegos
CI: 72030211546
Havana, August 30, 2007
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=11503
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