Cubans headed to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections in which the results are a foregone conclusion but with the abstention rate the real issue in play.
As many as eight million eligible voters will select from the 470 candidates on the ballot box vying for the 470 seats in the National Assembly.The opposition has called on Cubans to abstain, with one opposition Twitter account calling the vote a"farce."Municipal elections in November attracted a turnout of just 68.
Dissident Manuel Cuesta Morua, a member of the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba, said that"a sociological force is becoming the largest political party in the country: the abstentionist party."Voters have two choices on their ballots: they can tick the names of any number of individual candidates, or they can select the"vote for all" option.
Student Rachel Vega, 19, said she had also voted for all the candidates, considering it"a step forward right now" that would"improve the situation in the country."
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