Second Round of Local Elections Completed in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban citizens in 13 of the country’s 15 provinces exercised their vote on Sunday in the second round of municipal elections, reported the Prensa Latina news agency.

According to a partial report from the National Electoral Commission (NEC), as of 5:00 p.m. local time on Sunday more than 866,000 of the one million eligible voters had gone to the polls, meaning that voter participation was reached 85.52 percent.

Alina Balseiro, the president of CEN, pointed out that due to Hurricane Sandy, elections will be held this coming Sunday in Holguin Province, while in Santiago de Cuba (the hardest hit by the storm) the date will be determined after a visit to that territory by the electoral body.

A second round of voting will take place in those places where in the October 1 first round of voting, no candidate received more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast.