Скачать или смотреть CUBA: PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO CASTS VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTION

(11 Jan 1998) Spanish/Nat

President Fidel Castro cast his vote on Sunday in a general election he proclaimed a show of strength for Cuba's socialist system.

But it was a election like no other in the world.

There were no opposition candidates for the 601-seat assembly - voters could chose some or all of the five candidates listed on their local ballots.

In the capital, Havana, small groups of electors could be seen voting early.

But there appeared to be no rush.

The electorate will elect 601 deputies to the National Assembly and one thousand and 192 representatives to provincial assemblies.

There were no opposition candidates for the 601-seat assembly - voters could chose some or all of the five candidates listed on their local ballots.

Under the constitution the cabinet and president is chosen by parliament.

Nor was there any personal campaigning in the run-up to the polls.

Instead, pro-government news media bombarded Cubans with calls for a "united vote" in which every candidate should receive every possible vote.

The Communist government hopes that a successful turnout from the seven (m) million population would send a clear message to Cuba's enemies.

President Fidel Castro himself said it would show the unity of the Cuban people and send "a message to the world and to the illusions of imperialists and reactionaries".

Castro cast his ballot in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

He was joined by Cardinal Jaime Ortega - a key figure in the diplomatic relations between Castro and Pope John Paul II, who is due to visit the island later this month.

The timing of Castro's and Ortega's vote remained a secret until less than an hour before they arrived at the polling station.

In a scene televised nationwide, Castro stepped behind a red curtain to fill out his ballot.

Outside the polling station, he refused to say how he had voted but added he had voted as a "patriot".

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"They know how I voted, but I will not tell you, because the vote is a secret at the most I will say that I voted as a patriot and as a revolutionary"
SUPER CAPTION: Fidel Castro, president of Cuba

It came as no surprise that Castro cast his ballot in Santiago de Cuba - it was here that
his revolution began with an abortive attack on a military barracks in 1953.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"And here we all celebrate this great day, and we also celebrate that date"
SUPER CAPTION: Fidel Castro, president of Cuba

The last time elections for the National Assembly took place - in 1993 - there was a turnout of over 90 percent of the electorate.

Such an united vote is seen by Cuba's communists as a show of strength in the face of the Helms Burton economic embargo, imposed on Cuba by the U-S.

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