Cuban Voters Approve the New Family Code

The government says a total of 66.87% of those who cast their ballots on Sunday voted Yes, equaling 46.6% of the 8,447,467 qualified voters.

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES – On one more day with the general Cuban population mitigating the hardship of putting food on the table, voters approved a new Family Code that several changes will allow same-sex marriage and adoption.

According to preliminary returns from the National Electoral Council, voter turnout was 74.01% with the YES vote garnishing 66.87% (3,936,790 votes) while the NO option received 33.13% (1,950,090) of the valid ballots, with a small number of outstanding results.

There is no independent monitoring or verification of election results in Cuba beyond the possibility of a citizen witnessing the count at his/her polling place. From there on, the tabulation process is all in the hands of a far from impartial electoral system.

The Diaz Canel government at all levels had campaigned hard for the Yes vote trying to show a modernization in Cuba regarding different types of families. The No vote was championed by a mixture of staunch conservatives, followers of the Catholic and Evangelical churches, and others who oppose the government and called for a No vote or abstention as punishment for the mismanagement of the economy and a lack of freedoms in the country.

Those opposing the new Family Code, for one reason or another, were banned from the Communist Party’s monopoly media which ran a saturation campaign in favor of the new legislation.

The Cuban government does not normally hold referendums for any citizen or government initiatives including citizen rights. In fact, this was only the third time since 1959. Likewise, the 600+ members of the legislature nearly always vote unanimously to approve any government decree or initiative.

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