Havana, January 31, 2022. The popular consultation on Cuba’s new Families Code, to be held February 1 through April 30, has been preceded by an extensive preparatory effort intended to guarantee the efficiency and transparency of the process.
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, president of the National Electoral Council (CEN), reported that this body has the responsibility to organize, direct and supervise the consultation and, accordingly, directives were issued on the roles and conduct of the electoral authorities, the auxiliary information processing staff and jurists, who participated in training sessions beginning in December and continuing through January 31.
She added that, as of January 10, more than 78,000 meeting sites had been identified across the country, each to host an average rate of 150 voters, given the necessity of strictly complying with sanitary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
She recalled that, once the popular consultation was announced, the 12,513 electoral district commissions, 109 special commissions, those of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were constituted. The CEN decided that consultation meetings for Cubans abroad will be held in embassies and consular offices, during the month of March.
On the 27th and 28th of this month, a simulation will be conducted with the participation of selected constituency electoral commissions in all municipalities, which will allow the effectiveness of training to be evaluated, and any problems resolved.
Balseiro estimated that more than 900,000 persons will participate in the organization of the popular consultation, reflecting the magnitude of the process.
She specified that training of the 15,616 jurists, including 1,606 students, who will participate in the process, is being conducted in collaboration with the Union of Cuban Jurists and legal institutions.
Preparing for the consultation, she explained, electoral registries have submitted information on zones, cdr and voters per district. As a result, we have added 22,435 new voters who have reached 16 years of age, she noted.
She emphasized that constituency electoral commissions direct the consultation meetings along with selected jurists, with the support of the local mass organizations which will make sure every voter is aware of the call to participate and the meeting site.
For the collection of comments and proposals at each meeting, the categories used in past consultations of modification, addition, elimination and question are maintained, while a category of supportive and others have been included, she clarified, adding that voters will be able to submit their opinions in writing, express them orally, or use the online application developed for this purpose. Participants will also be able to revise their proposals if they so choose.
The objective is to collect all voter proposals as they are presented, she assured, emphasizing that the commission does not have the authority to make any changes.
She noted that there will be no discussion of disagreements at the consultation meeting, where only proposals made by voters will be collected, in order to channel these interests. To guarantee transparency and control of the process, 1,428 supervisors and 27,891 collaborators will be on hand across the country.
Additionally, Balseiro reported, a drafting commission has been organized to ensure the publication of more than one million copies of a summary of the consultation, and that publication is currently underway of the draft Code to be discussed, for the use electoral and legal authorities.
To facilitate the popular consultation on the Families Code, two computer systems have been developed: Xiscop, which will provide official statistical reports of all information uploaded during the process, and GEMA-CEN, which will determine the type of proposal made, in accordance with the established categories.
Ainadi Martínez Kessel, CEN’s Information Technology director, commented that, additionally, two support tools will be available: the Consulta Popular mobile application, available from Apklis, and a dashboard, which will provide information on proposals submitted, in real time.
The consultation will culminate with the delivery of proposals made by the population to the National Assembly of People’s Power for delegates’ consideration, expected in the month of May.
Source: Granma
