14ymedio, Mexico City, 15 August 2024 — The general election in Venezuela on July 28 and its outcome have had an important regional and international impact. Despite the existence of different options on the ballot, Venezuelans witnessed an election in clear conditions of competitive inequality, opacity and state control of the electoral, judicial and military authorities, as well as limited access to information and the financial resources of the opposition. This electoral authoritarianism has generated a critical reaction from important global powers (USA, Europe) and a majority of Latin American countries, and even from academic organizations of progressive orientation (LASA).
Cuba is perhaps the most atypical case of today’s Latin American autocracies. Its history of democratic elections dates back to the period from 1940 to 1950. From the democratic rupture of March 1952, the elections have been irregular, and from 1959 until the institutionalization of the pro-Soviet single-party political system in 1976, there were no elections. From this date the elections have been manipulated, with single-party candidates pre-selected by criteria of ideological fidelity.
The last general election for president in conditions of multi-party competition was held in Cuba on June 1, 1948
Strictly speaking, the last general election for president and 50% renewal of the House of Representatives and Senators, under conditions of multiparty competition, was held in Cuba on June 1, 1948. The Cuban electoral calendar of the time, governed by the Electoral Code of 1943, defined general and partial elections combining the rule of plurality with a system of provincial votes to elect a president with a system of relative majority in multi-member constituencies, with representation of minorities for the Senate and the election of representatives from proportional representation with the Hare formula of ranked choice voting with 50% renewal in midterm elections every two years.
The electoral results of the period were not only conditioned by this combination of electoral rules (P/RP) but also by the characteristics of the Cuban party system; that is, a moderate multiparty system without a predominant party to compete and win alone, which produced incentives for the establishment of broad electoral alliances. Unlike the two previous elections (1940 and 1944), the general elections of 1948 marked the end of the great centripetal bipolar coalitions and the beginning of the fragmentation and polarization of the party system.
In June 1948, the number of competing candidates increased to four, reducing the size of the first two coalitions that nominated the strong candidates. The winning candidate of the Authentic-Republican Alliance (PRC-A/PR) was Carlos Prío Socarrás (PRC-Authentic), who obtained 46%, followed by the candidate of the Democratic-Liberal Coalition (PD-PL), Ricardo Núñez Portuondo, with 30%. The remaining 24% went to the two candidates of independent parties, Eduardo Chibás, of the new Cuban People’s Party (Ortodoxox-PPC-O), with 16.5%, and Juan Marinello of the Popular Socialist Party (PSP), with 7%.
The plurality of the party system of the period can be appreciated. It is reflected in the midterm election of 1950 where the PPC-O acquired legislative force by obtaining 13.6% of the seats, above the traditional right-wing parties: the Liberal with 12.1%, and the Democrat with 9%. A new center-right party appears, the Party of Unitary Action (PAU) of Fulgencio Batista, which collects 6%.
The Socialist Constitution of 1976 and Electoral Law 72 of 1992 defined the foundations of the Cuban electoral system until its marginal reform in the 2019 Constitution
The Socialist Constitution of 1976 and Electoral Law 72 of 1992 defined the foundations of the Cuban electoral system until its marginal reform in the 2019 Constitution. In general, these electoral rules were an efficient mechanism for the selection and rotation of loyalties within a cohesive elite.
Designed to (re)produce consensus in a single party system, its functionality depends on a selective filter aimed at guaranteeing the continuity and governance of a totalitarian regime. While it is true that the nomination of candidates is direct at the constituency level, candidacies for municipal, provincial and deputy governments to the National Assembly are subject to a “double selective filter” based on criteria of ideological suitability. The Electoral and Candidacy Commissions in the various instances fulfill this function: the cohesion and loyalty of the candidates on the closed list that will be submitted to a (in)direct vote by a select group of elected with proven loyalty.
It is important to emphasize that since the ’election’ for president in 2016, a process of decrease in electoral participation has begun
Fifty percent of the candidacies proposed at the municipal level for election to the National Assembly emerge from proposals prepared by these Nomination Commissions and must be approved by the Electoral Commissions, which subverts the notion of popular representation. It is important to emphasize that since the ’election’ (sic) for president in 2016, a process of decrease in electoral participation and an increase in blank ballots, null votes and selective voting has begun.
Despite the fact that the new Electoral Law No. 127 of July 2019 proposes to professionalize and give greater autonomy to the Electoral Councils and the Nomination Commissions in the various instances, Article 86 recognizes the ethical principle of the electoral authorities “to make clear, at all times, their loyalty to the Homeland, to the Revolution and to the political, economic and social system that we defend” (sic). Within the autocratic totalitarian framework, elections will always be a mechanism to reinforce the power of an illegitimate elite.
Editor’s Note: The author is a research professor at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City and a contributor to the Cuban Latino Dialogue of Cadal.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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