The Regime is still counting ballots in Cuba. Oh, the suspense! The “official” results are expected today. At which point I expect the AP to release a story reporting that the communist party has somehow, agaisnt no odds, managed to maintain control of the National Assembly-again and its now poised to begin the long awaited transition. Pfft.
According to Granma:
According to Granma:
Reus, who is minister of Justice, reported that 96% of the country’s voters went to the polls. In the case of the vote for parliamentary deputies, the number of ballots cast totaled 8,230,832, of which 95.24% were valid; blank ballots totaled the equivalent of 3.73% and voided ballots just 1.04%, she said.
Given the fact that the National Assembly “candidates” are hand picked and run unopposed, it’s hard to understand why the regime wastes its very limited resources to “count” and document what is already a forgone conclusion. Talk about closing, locking and securing the barn door long after the horse is long gone.
But that’s what the Castro’s regime has always been about, lies, propaganda and smoke and mirrors. A phony election to legitimize a fake Assembly that is used to legitimize a fraudulent “executive”. And the press supports the shenanigans as if Cuba had a legitimate electoral system where there are actually choices and goes as far as labeling those of us who point out the farce “critics”.
Anyway, the regime is admitting that some ballots were left blank and voided. Even if you use the regime’s preliminary numbers which us “critics” know to be manipulated for propaganda purposes, 342,951 Cubans did not vote and another 392,610 either left the ballots blank or voided them. Both figures seem low since many groups had “ballot voiding campaigns” in place urging Cubans to reject, if only symbolically, the official slate of “candidates” by leaving the ballots blank or by writing “cambio” on them.
Of course, the regime admits to the voided and blank ballots to present the appearance of a more open, transparent and pragmatically open minded regime under Raul. In reality it’s just a clever propaganda bait which is swallowed hook line and sinker by the international press who, to continue with the aquatic metaphor, never find anything fishy in the pronouncements of the regime and repeat their lies like well trained parrot (fish). (Sorry about that last aquatic reference)
But that’s what the Castro’s regime has always been about, lies, propaganda and smoke and mirrors. A phony election to legitimize a fake Assembly that is used to legitimize a fraudulent “executive”. And the press supports the shenanigans as if Cuba had a legitimate electoral system where there are actually choices and goes as far as labeling those of us who point out the farce “critics”.
Anyway, the regime is admitting that some ballots were left blank and voided. Even if you use the regime’s preliminary numbers which us “critics” know to be manipulated for propaganda purposes, 342,951 Cubans did not vote and another 392,610 either left the ballots blank or voided them. Both figures seem low since many groups had “ballot voiding campaigns” in place urging Cubans to reject, if only symbolically, the official slate of “candidates” by leaving the ballots blank or by writing “cambio” on them.
Of course, the regime admits to the voided and blank ballots to present the appearance of a more open, transparent and pragmatically open minded regime under Raul. In reality it’s just a clever propaganda bait which is swallowed hook line and sinker by the international press who, to continue with the aquatic metaphor, never find anything fishy in the pronouncements of the regime and repeat their lies like well trained parrot (fish). (Sorry about that last aquatic reference)
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