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CUBANS ARE VOTING in municipal elections today amid a grave economic crisis that could weaken turnout as the opposition alleges its candidates are under unfair pressure.
More than eight million Cubans aged 16 and older (of a population of 11.2 million) are eligible to cast secret ballots to select more than 12,400 municipal delegates, or councillors, from the 27,000 candidates nominated by show of hands in neighborhood assemblies.
In Havana, polling stations opened without incident at 7:00 am (1200 GMT).
The government had mounted an intense get-out-the-vote campaign on social media, as well as in the press and on television – both controlled by the ruling Communist Party, which oversees the election process but does not nominate candidates.
But the opposition platform known as the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CDTC), which promotes change and pluralism in the country through legal means, called on people to abstain, citing unfair pressure by the government.
Its vice president, Manuel Cuesta, told AFP that three of the group’s candidates had been prevented “by the political police” from participating in neighborhood assemblies because they appeared to have a good chance of winning.
He said a fourth candidate, Jose Cabrera, was nominated in the southeastern city of Palma Soriano but never made it to the ballot over “threats of losing his job” and other difficulties.
The Cuban government has branded opposition members as US “mercenaries.”
These elections are the first step in a unique electoral system.
Councillors elected today will form municipal governments that will propose 50 percent of the candidates for provincial assemblies and the National Assembly, which in turn elects the Council of State and the Cuban president from among its members.
The other 50 percent are put forward by social organizations close to the government.
In theory, the system allows any Cuban to reach parliament, but the opposition maintains that Communist Party militants have the ability to prevent any opposition member from being elected.
Adding uncertainty is the economic crisis that has brought shortages of food and medicine and daily blackouts to the island, fueling an outflow of migrants – and potentially increasing abstentionism.
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Think I’ll go back on the beer Saturday nights!
I’ll buy you a pint trev
I’m thrilled to know that e140 out of the e160 licence fee I’ve been paying for 20 years goes straight to the coffers of RTE. How grateful I am to know I’m keeping Ryan Tubridy in pink jumpers.
Any chance of getting some new young blood into RTE or are we going to have to put up with nepotism and cronyism for ever and a day?
I might join you and I’ve been off it for 5 years,.
not to mention contributing towards the late Gerry’s hokey cokey addiction. .
Just watch the wire box set on sky for free. Great show
Jesus lads it’s a lots worse misery porn joe Duffy is cuming to the TV. For f*** sake. omg .
Oh gawd, I’m felling all depressed now.
Shockin that people have to be subjected to this muck
Ray D’arcy thinks he is a man of the people but he is so out of touch its’s almost funny. He seems to have become very arrogant over time so I assume that he will fit right in with RTE.
Spot on joe. He’s an arse.
Ray could do a series on the price of soup in the RTE canteen.
You can turn it off , you know!
still have to pay for it Helen, you know! or else you go to jail.
Ray Darcy, the man who once giggled and smiled like a buffoon behind a desk for a few years while 3 puppets ripped the p!ss out of him. The man who also said he’d leave the country if enda kenny became Taoiseach…. We’re still waiting.
I’d have to turn it on in the first place Helen, which is never gonna happen by the way
@Helen, stop being a party pooper, let us moan for goodness sake!!
I like Ray D’Arcy. looking forward to what love/hate spin oof will be like. They world cup coverage should be good too.
@Powerful Sayings,
You have Internet in you padded cell?
Great to see RTE taking a risk with this hot new talent. *~*
Hahahaha, we’ll see Nicky Byrne back on the tellybox shortly enough too I’d say. A new quiz show Co hosted by lottie ryan maybe?
So more of Twink and her Dog.
So basically it’s more of the same shite.Good to know.Just another reason not to pay that ridiculous licence.
No, actually it’s worse with that D’arcy w@nker back on it again.
Time to scrap the tv licence. There worth a cent of what they earn. Bloody joke.
Where do you go to take the test for a TV license? I need to brush up on the remote control. Don’t want to fail it again.
It would be worth watching if RTE would pay to have some real guests on these shows, instead of dull witted politicians & C-list Irish celebrities and broadcasting complete muck. I remember being stuck in the in-laws house in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday night a few months ago – no mon, no fun – and was stuck watching Brendan O Bloody Connor having an ‘inspired debate’ with Mary O fcukin’ Rourke!!!! The wrists are healing nicely now though.
They really shoot themselves in foot with their chat show schedule. Compare it to BBC they have the Graham Norton show which is only an hour long and gets 2/3 decent guests. Whereas RTÉ have two chat shows within a day of one another, the Late Late and whatever show is on a saturday night, which last a combined 4 hours, how do they hope to possibly fill that massive 4 hour schedule with decent guests on a much smaller budget?
They clearly couldn’t be arsed coming up with something better and are using chat shows as air time fillers.
Ray will request Cathal Pendred for the first night not knowing he really wanted Conor Mcgregor!! But its OK, he will just call him Conor for the night? Loves UFC does Ray!!!
Look at the state of D’arcy and Tubridy in that photo.It basically just sums of RTE.Pathetic.
Does nobody proof read these articles? So many mistakes in such a short piece.
Not just the grammar, the content! Any modern realistic show will include sex workers, Ray has a hard on when it comes to this. The articles leading quote is completely at odds with the mans well publicised beliefs. (sex worker, hard on, Ray, loves it?!)
Forgive the extra rant but I once believed Ray was a light in the fog, someone who doggedly stuck to an issue despite knockbacks and unashamedly used his position to access those who wield power and asked them straight questions. He already had more cash in the bank than he could spend in a lifetime, what happened?
Joe Duffy,Tubridy, Ray D’Arcy !!! Jesus wept.
Do any of them pay PAYE at least or do they all have,”production ” companies ?Do an article on that journal.ie.
I never watch RTE. I pay my licence fee because I was caught out but if I could get away with it I wouldn’t bother. Never listen to RTE radio either.
Why do we need to pay licence fee again Public service broadcasting which no other TV station apart from RTE can do At least share licence fee with TV3 etc.
Any household with an apparatus like a TV or a radio that is capable of receiving broadcast signals must pay a “Receiving Licence” according to the Law. This is irrespective of if the radio or TV is functioning or broken as they still have the capability to receive the signals. Payment doesn’t go to RTE directly but to the Government via An Post who then redistribute it to RTE only (as RTE is semi state and TV3 is not). Hope this clears up your query :)
Haven’t paid a TV licence since 1993…ain’t going to start now.
Robin, or water charges etc etc. sure never mind someone else will pay for it.
How do you spell netflix again?
That darcy fella is some aul one.
Tg4 are also re-running their excellent drama/documentary series set around the rising in the run up to the anniversary.
Jesus we’re a depressing country ! without even seeing any of the shows people complain and slate them ….I’m personally looking forward to a series on 1916 , and if a new show can live up to love hates standards I’ll definitely watch it , I enjoy good homemade shows that showcase local talent
I.cannot.wait.
But you are right Ray D’arcy…
If people are stupid enough to be watching your show,they will be shouting at the telly…
#snorefest
Dear RTE,
Can we, the funding machine of your station please be polled annually on who or what we have to watch.
I as a frustrated and overcharged customer will not be bothered watching the cream of banality that you are offering me in Darcy and Tubridy.
Most businesses listen to their customers.
Looking at this schedule, you really would feel like emmigration .
The ‘new Love/Hate’ sounds good.
But with the RTE Player being so ropey, will I need to watch it via the Pirate Bay like the old Love/Hate?
RTE: the graveyard of creativity
The problem with the late late is that Tubridy is a rubbish presenter and it shouldn’t be live. It could be edited to cut out all the audience shite and the awkward moments. Interviews with idiotic guests are far too long. Hopefully Ray will get it right and they can pull the late late
Have to stock up on the box sets again
does anybody seriously still watch rte? I doubt it with all the tech that’s there now and geo blocking u have BBC iplayer Netflix etc…so who given the choice would watch rte
Yeah I watch it, some things I like others I don’t. Although by the looks of things everyone is annoyed by RTE line up.
True. I think the older generation still watch it for news and the GAA games. Why anyone under 60 still bothers with it is beyond me with the amount of choice out there: BBC, SKY, netflix, Apple Tv, Youtube and so on….
So glad I don’t pay rte for for this garbage … pure garbage
Its a good job he’s only talking about watching it over a bottle of wine, because anything stronger and the TV would be smashed to pieces………Muck!
Imagine the shite we would get if we didn’t pay the tv licence if that’s the best we get for our buck !!!
Sounds like RTE are gearing Ray D’Arcy up to take over the Late Late Show in time!
Wow I can’t contain myself I’m so underwhelmed!
Seriously – I actually groaned out loud reading this story!!!!!!!!
I heard that the are doing a remake of ‘The Baldy Man’ starring either D’Arcy or Paul Murphy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYmDP0B-YP4
New season, same old crap. The new shows only make up a small percentage of programming – the rest of the schedule will be padded out with repeats, endless news bulletins, ad-breaks and bought-in shows from US and UK. Another tortuous nine months of the Late Late and its awkward host. D’arcy’s show will simply be Brendan O’Connor’s show with a different set. Dreary, depressing stuff that will have any right-minded person subscribing to Netflix. I abandoned RTE years ago yet I am forced to pay for it or otherwise I’m thrown in jail. You wouldn’t see it in North Korea.
I’m not allowed watch RTE. My blood pressure goes up.
€160 for the Hurling and Football is worth is on its own, dont bither with anything else on either channel but the GAA coverage is top drawer
Youtube is more fun as you can learn a lot from the different so called training videos? Drooling at RTE is not fun…
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