In Cuba voters select candidates
Outside of Cuba there is an idea that elections are relative insofar as there is only one Party. How is the Cuban electoral system organized and what are its values, speaking in terms of democracy?
In Cuba voters select candidates. We are now in an electoral process. This is one of the fundamental differences with the model in vogue, with its supposed paradigm. The essence of election system in the contemporary Western world implies that electors, who are not all citizens but rather a part, are called on to vote for certain candidates who have been selected by the electoral machine or political parties. Thus citizens have scant participation in the selection of candidates. In Cuba, a process has been underway for some weeks in which the people select by vote those persons they wish to present as candidates.
I believe that this is nothing like the predominant model in the rest of the world. Here, we could say that millions of Cubans have already voted, given these nomination assemblies or meetings to nominate candidates. On October 21, these same people are convened to go to the polls to elect from among the various candidates who they themselves nominated. The candidates are elected, not designated. They are not there as a result of an electoral machine.
Obviously, there is propaganda in the newspapers or on television talks about supporting the best, the most capable. But the reality, for example, is that neighbors raise their hands in assemblies that take place in all the neighborhoods, and propose someone who they consider to be representative. Or, they might propose themselves, which can be the case and has happened before. If something abounds in Cuba, it’s elections. This stage culminates on October 21, and the second round, in those constituencies where no candidate has obtained more than 50% of the vote, on October 28.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/15oct-select-candidates.html