Political situation in Cuba

Candidate members of parliament Denisse Ricardo and Carlos Miguel Pereza campaign in Havana on March 21, 2023 ahead of Sunday's election. Ramon Espinosa / AP  

Political situation in Cuba  

Campaign despite ban an attempt to increase voting  

Running a personal election campaign is prohibited in Cuba - and yet the candidates are doing just that ahead of the parliamentary elections on Sunday. It's a way of trying to get the voters off the couch, says Manuel Cuesta Morúa from the opposition group Consejo para la Transición Democrática to France24. 

- The political reality dissolves the institutional and legal, says Manuel Cuesta Morúa.  

No opposition candidates are allowed to stand in the election. For the 470 mandates, 470 people approved by election committees linked to the ruling Communist Party are running, writes AP – the country's only approved party.  

The opposition is calling for an election boycott as the only way to show displeasure, and voter turnout has long been in decline. In the last parliamentary election in 2018, 14 percent abstained from voting and in the local elections in November 31 percent, according to France24.  

Protesters hold up placards reading "Freedom for Cuba" during a baseball game between Cuba and the United States in Miami on March 19, 2021. Wilfredo Lee/AP  

Political situation in Cuba  

The opposition calls for an election boycott - fears violence  

The Cuban opposition is calling on voters to boycott Sunday's parliamentary elections to protest the one-party system. 

"Vote by staying at home" is one of the messages circulating in social media. According to the opposition site 14ymedio, more and more people are speaking openly about their intention to abstain from voting, including government employees. 

- It used to be unthinkable, but now many choose defiance over fear, says 64-year-old Maritza to 14ymedio.  

Since the mass demonstrations in 2021, violence against the opposition has subsided, but activists testify in exile media that they were threatened with prison and summoned for questioning before the election. 

If the election leads to demonstrations, there is a great risk that the state will attack the opposition with violence, writes the organization ACLED, which reports on political violence around the world.