Millions of Cubans vote in parliamentary elections

HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro and millions of other Cubans voted Sunday in parliamentary elections where all 609 candidates ran uncontested. Many Cuban dissidents labeled the vote a farce and refused to participate.

State television showed Castro voting in the eastern city of Santiago, where he traditionally casts his ballot.

"We are perfecting our revolutionary and socialist democracy," Castro told hundreds of supporters during a lengthy address outside the voting place.

He later told reporters the island's dissident movement had been manufactured by the United States, saying Washington wanted to "destroy our nation, but had not been able to."

Election officials gathered at polling stations an hour before voting began, to sing the national anthem, demonstrate that the polling boxes were empty and take the name and national identification number of the first voter of the day.

There were no reports of problems by the time voting stations closed at 5 p.m.across the island. Four hours earlier, nearly 90 percent of Cuba's more than 8 million registered voters had cast their ballots, the local National Information Agency reported.

Since all the candidates ran unopposed, voters either could mark or leave blank the circle next to each name on the ballot.

Several leading dissident groups announced they would not vote and called on others to abstain or annul a ballot by marking it incorrectly or casting it blank.

In an unusual protest Saturday evening, dissident Mayelin Cedeno erected a sign outside her Havana home reading, "No to the electoral farce. No to the vote. No to more of the same."

"It occurred to me after hearing Castro on the television. He said that in Cuba there is democracy and that's not true," Cedeno said. "Voting is practically obligatory to keep from being humiliated."

About 100 neighbors crowded outside Cedeno's home in their own protest, chanting pro-government slogans and waving signs reading "Viva Fidel!"

All Cubans over 16 can vote, and though it is not obligatory, pressure to participate is high. Many Cubans say they would rather vote than be scolded by a relative, neighbor or co-worker.

Castro was among the candidates seeking re-election to the National Assembly. He has led Cuba for 44 years, initially as premier and now as president.

In May, opposition leaders delivered a petition with 11,020 signatures demanding election reforms, but the government has ignored the so-called Varela Project.

Castro became irritated by a reporter's question Sunday about the initiative, saying, "Let's talk about serious things, not silliness."

Parliament's duties include approving laws proposed by Cuba's ruling Council of State, headed by Castro. It also reconfirms Castro's presidency on the council in the weeks after the general elections.

A first round of balloting in October elected members of Cuba's municipal assemblies. Half of the parliamentary candidates on the Sunday ballots were chosen from municipal assembly members.

The other half include many internationally known figures, such as Juan Miguel Gonzalez, father of Elian, the Cuban boy at the heart of the international child custody battle in 2000; track star Ana Fidelia Quirot, who won a bronze Olympic medal in 1992; and folk singer Silvio Rodriguez.

Gonzalez voted in Cardenas, a coastal community about a two-hour drive east of Havana where he and his son live.

As Gonzalez was interviewed by Cuban state television, Elian could be seen in the background, dressed in his school uniform and guarding the election urns with several other schoolchildren -- an election day tradition here.

"We are selected by (the voters) and will do everything we can to deliver," the elder Gonzalez said.