Photo: Ismael Batista

Once voting was completed and preliminary results reported, the National Electoral Commission announced that the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba was approved by the favorable vote of the majority of citizens with electoral rights, in a referendum held on February 24, 2019.

The National Electoral Commission, in compliance with Articles 16 and 22 subsection K) of the Electoral Law, began the process of validating results of voting both in Cuba and abroad.

To do so, we proceeded to verify the cases of voters who, on the day set by the Council of State, exercised their right to vote in a place other than that in which they were registered, since they were performing tasks related to production, services, or education, or for other justified reasons, were not able to reach their designated polling station. In such cases, their votes were included at the polling station where they cast their ballots, following accreditation of their status as an eligible voter before members of the poll's electoral board.

Among these polling sites were 198 located in airports, railroad terminals, and bus stations; in hospitals; hotels; student residences; and other locations with a high concentration of voters, as established in Article 14.1 of Decree-Law 248/07, and Article 47 appendix 2 and 4 of its Regulations, related to Article 167 of the Electoral Law.

This prevented any repeated vote on the part of the 594,580 citizens who were included on registries at their permanent address, but exercised their vote at another polling station.

Additionally, deleted were the names of 3,445 individuals who died after the last update, printing, and delivery of Voter Lists by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Special Electoral Commission and Municipal Electoral Commissions in Cuba, for voting day, as established in appendix 3.17 of the Electoral Guidelines, approved by the National Electoral Commission.

The final results being reported today required arduous work and dedication on the part of our authorities and specialists at the Voter Registry, with full transparency and strict adherence to the law.

Given the above, compiled was an updated list of 8,705,723 voters, on the basis of adding to the initial list the 39,454 appropriate inclusions not found in registries, minus the deceased previously cited.

It is confirmed that 7,848,343 voters cast ballots, for a turnout of 90.15% of the updated list.

Of the 7,848,343 ballots deposited in ballot boxes, those determined to be valid in accordance with the law numbered 7,522,569, representing 95.85% of the vote.

Voting YES were 6, 816,169 citizens, representing 78.30% of the updated registry and 86.85% of those who voted.

Ballots indicating a NO vote numbered 706,400 or 8.11% of the updated registry and 9% of those who voted.

The National Electoral Commission reaffirms its recognition of all electoral authorities for the work done, as well as different organizations and institutions for their cooperation and support to the holding of the Constitutional Referendum across the length and breadth of our country, and especially the Cuban people.

National Electoral Commission
February 28, 2019

Taken from Granma

Twitter