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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

TO CHOOSE TO BE FREE

TO CHOOSE TO BE FREE
2008-01-20.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas

Havana, January 18, 2008.- We have been promoting changes to the laws
for many years, so that the rights of citizens are respected. We have
particularly insisted on a new electoral law, because that is the key
for the people to exercise their sovereignty, which is the main
objective of the Varela Project.

The current electoral law and the systemic violations of freedom of
expression and association are inhibiting the right of Cuban citizens to
choose and to be chosen. You can read the Varela Project by visiting

www.oswaldopaya.org.

We begin with the very Electoral Law, Law No. 72.

The nomination:

Only the Candidature Commissions, which are comprised of organizations
that are unconditionally loyal to the Government and whose national
leaders are also in almost all cases leaders of the Communist Party, can
propose candidates for Deputies. The municipal assemblies of the
People's Power, which are institutions of the government, make the final
nomination of candidates.

Therefore this is in violation of the right established in article 133
of the Constitution, which states "Cuban citizens, men and woman, have a
right to be elected in the full enjoyment of their political rights."

Therefore, it is no longer the Cuban citizenry that can be elected, but
rather only those that are designated by these Candidature Commissions.
Although perhaps they are consistent in this as in practice no Cuban
citizen has any political rights. That is to say, government
institutions nominate and its organizations propose, but not the
citizenry or the people as such.

The voting process:

It is also not elections, because according to Law 72 only one candidate
is nominated for each Deputy seat. Therefore if citizens chose their
corresponding Deputy in a district, only one name could appear on the
ballot, because there can only be a sole candidate.

That is why I believe that the "unified vote" was established so that
the names of various candidates appear on the ballot, to give the
imagery of variety, but it is still the same number of candidates as the
number of Deputies to be elected. Citizens can vote for one, for all or
for some, but if one does not want any of the sole candidates, one's
vote does not count. One's vote is only counted if it is in the affirmative.

The voter can not choose his deputy among various candidates, nor can
they refuse all candidates because a ballot box to say no does not
exist. Therefore, this is not an election, or even a consultation for
voters to refuse or accept all of the sole candidates.

In my opinion:

In a logical sense, this is truly a joke.

In a legal sense, this is a violation of the Constitution.

In a political sense, this is a grave violation of popular sovereignty.

In an ethical and humane sense, this harms the dignity of individuals
and the right of our people to define their own lives and their future.
If someone wants to take a look at the Electoral Law before voting,
perhaps you will find it and perhaps you will find a copy of the
Constitution, where you can read in article 7.1 "the National Assembly
of the People's Power is comprised of Deputies elected by the free,
direct, and secret votes of the electorate, in proportion and in
accordance with the process determined by law."

I repeat, in my opinion, those who drafted the law established a process
that violates the Constitution because it does not allow for Deputies to
be elected, or to be elected by direct vote. But there is something even
graver that was committed by the authorities and those who exercise
power above the law. If so many people have received "visits" or signals
for having not voted, if there have been "commissions" these days that
have visited house by house to tell citizens to vote in the ballot of
the unified vote and have also in many case asked if they are voting,
then the vote is also not free.

It is as if they want to violate the spirit of individuals, imposing on
them what perhaps many do not want to do. This mechanism of
intimidation is not new, and even if the law were flawless, the culture
of fear that is imposed through all of the repressive and oppressive
mechanisms to carry out the electoral farce is a terrible non-popular
tradition.

Never before has such an intense and disproportionate and at the same
time disingenuous electoral campaign been waged. All of the media that
the people pay for has been utilized to promote a vote that will
definitely not be an election. A real marketing campaign is being waged
with artists, athletes, and a parade of everything they think is popular
in order to condition the voters.

These are the same voters who are not allowed to listen to other
opinions, just as they are not allowed to choose another alternative,
and are not allowed to elect. It seems that those who make the decisions
only trust the citizenry when they are devoid of the possibility to
choose freely.

Those voters who support this government are not even allowed to choose
from among various candidates the one that they believe would best
represent the continuity and efficiency of this system. They are offered
sole candidates, without alternatives.

The Deputies to the legislature that is coming to a close received the
Varela Project legal initiative that was supported by more than 25,000
voters. This petition asks for a Referendum and proposes a new electoral
law, that would allow citizens to nominate and elect their deputies as
well as their representatives at all levels. Many of those who advocated
for the Varela Project are now unjustly imprisoned precisely for
defending national and popular sovereignty, for defending the rights of
citizens to choose and to be chosen freely and democratically.

We do not have the capacity nor the intention to tell any Cuban whether
or not he or she should vote, nor how to vote, but we do have the
responsibility and mission to call on all Cubans to act freely, that is
to say, moved by their own conscience, by honor, by love for their
Homeland, and for liberty, his brethren, and the dignity of his
children, without fear. That is liberation.

http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=13569

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