More than five million Cubans voted in the popular referendum ‘Family Law’ Granma

Alina Balciero Gutierrez, President of the National Electoral Council (CEN), stated when releasing initial reports, that as of 5:00 pm on Sunday, 5,806,778 voters had participated in exercising their right to vote in the popular family law referendum.

He stressed that this number represents 68.91% compared to the core portion of 8,425,147 registered voters.

To give these raw numbers, he commented that the implications had been taken into account, that until the closing of the last part there were more than 756,966 electors. He explained that these are those who should have voted in their respective areas of residence, but did so in another, for various reasons.

“This large number of incumbents is evidence of voters’ motivation to participate in this transcendental process.”

Balciero Gutierrez noted that most of the polling stations – more than 23,000 – were able to close polling stations at 6 pm as planned. However, at the request of the Council, due to the heavy rain, voting hours were extended in eight provinces and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, a decision covered by Article 97 of the Electoral Code.

The head of the center confirmed that this electoral body continued to work and continued to process the information that is still arriving from all governorates. Meanwhile, he commended the work of more than 200,000 electoral authorities that accompanied the process, in order to make the suffrage of citizens viable.

Balcero Gutierrez said that the opportunity to vote on family law, and thus express our opinion, is a unique one, highlighting the strengths of the Cuban electoral system, from the concept of voting as free, direct and secret, to the transparent and public audit of schools.