Cuba, Democratic or Sham : Melbourne Indymedia

I came across a particular site which defends Cuba, on it they had this article which is the clearest description i could find on how the electoral process works in Cuba.

I also found Cuba's constitution in english

The constitution
http://64.21.33.164/ref/dis/const_92_e.htm

These parts are the most relevant to what i have to say

ARTICLE 5. The Communist Party of Cuba, a follower of Martí’s ideas and of Marxism-Leninism, and the organized vanguard of the Cuban nation, is the highest leading force of society and of the state, which organizes and guides the common effort toward the goals of the construction of socialism and the progress toward a communist society,

ARTICLE 6. The Young Communist League, the organization of Cuba’s vanguard youth, has the recognition and encouragement of the state in its main duty of promoting the active participation of young people in the tasks of building socialism and adequately preparing the youth to be conscientious citizens capable of assuming ever greater responsibilities for the benefit of our society.

ARTICLE 16. The state organizes, directs and controls the economic life of the nation according to a plan that guarantees the programmed development of the country, with the purpose of strengthening the socialist system, of increasingly satisfying the material and cultural needs of society and of citizens, of promoting the flourishing of human beings and their integrity, and of serving the progress and security of the country.

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Only communist party ideology is allowed, the communist party doesn't have to stand because the assembly is the communist party...

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http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/democracy.htm

electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates. Instead the candidates are nominated by grass roots assemblies and by electoral commissions comprising representatives of all the mass organisations.
The municipal elections are the cornerstone of Cuba's political structure. They comprise delegates who have great authority amongst the local population and who are elected for reasons of known integrity, intelligence, hard work and honesty.

The elections to the provincial and national assemblies (Cuba's regional and national parliaments) follow a different procedure. For deputies to the national assembly the nominating process involves proposals from the municipal councils.

In addition to receiving nominations from different organisations and institutions, the candidacy commissions carry out an exhaustive process of consultation before drawing up a final slate. In the February 1993 elections they consulted more than 1.5 million people and established a pool of between 60 and 70 thousand potential candidates before narrowing it down to 589.

The nominating process and the huge participation in the last election clearly show that the deputies to Cuba's parliament enjoy massive public support.
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The article is clearly biased and make some assumptions about Cubans.

Basically it reads, people are consulted, but don't have a direct vote.
The elections at the end are a sham because the number of candidates match the number of seats, and as for the mass organisations most if not all of them are communist or communist influenced anyway, so if i was to stand on a platform of anti communism pro Anarchism i wouldn't get past the commission and more than likely find myself in jail...

It gives the feeling that people can participate but in reality its all sham.

I consider democracy to be where us as individuals and as a whole get to choose who represents us while also participating in the decision making process as well,
Which would if i had my way would be like what we have
today with the added benefit of having something similar to a AGM that companies have for stockholders.
Ie people have representatives that do most of the day to day running and once every three/six months/12months meetings are held to discuss and vote on the direction our representatives should take ect

But what i don't consider democracy is what happens in Cuba, i prefer to have a direct vote in who i choose not some committee that's being influenced by some ideology or groups that i don't agree with.

Considering Castro is always chosen with his brother next in line, it doesn't take much imagination to see the whole system is nothing more than a sham...