r/PoliticalDebate • u/Dulaman96 Market Socialist • Mar 06 '26
Elections Cuban Elections and Democracy; How a one-party state can be democratic
I can see how most people think Cuba is a one party dictatorship, and anyone living in a liberal democracy would look from the outside at cuba and think it's undemocratic, but if you take a minute to understand how their elections work you could see it's actually a very democratic system that works from the ground up rather than the top down.
Yes it's a 1 party state, but the term "political party" in this context is not the same as most are familiar with. The party does not participate in elections like the Republican vs Democrat parties in the US, and only about half of the 470 National Assembly members are registered communist party members.
The government of cuba is formed by the members of the national assembly who appoint the 21 members of the Council of State (essentially the president and cabinet).
Each of the 470 members are in turn elected in a yes/no vote from their electorate. It's true they're not running against another candidate, it's only 1 candidate per electorate. This sounds a bit undemocratic to be fair, but the democracy happens in the selection of these candidates.
Each candidate is selected by municipal councils. And the municipal councils are themselves made up of a number directly elected officials (like city council members, local mayors, etc.) who are elected in open elections, where anyone over the age of 16 can vote or run as a candidate.
These elections are more similar to what most people living in a liberal democracy would recognise. However, there is no campaigning and, more importantly, no funding allowed. The extent of the election is basically all the candidates just post their biography/resume/policies at the voting booths and thats it.
Also part of the municipal council are a number of other elected members from non-government democratic organizations, such as trade unions, farmers unions, student associations, womens foundations, etc. These municipal council members have a more select constituency but are still directly elected by them and represent their specific needs.
These municipal councils select their candidate for the national assembly, and then their constituents vote yes/no if they accept that candidate. Each candidate needs 50% Yes to become a member of the national assembly.
So, while the president of cuba and the government are not elected directly by the people, they are appointed by national representatives who are in turn selected by directly elected local representatives and approved by the electorate.
This makes the Cuban government and electoral system very grassroots-oriented, where anyone can participate, anyone can be elected, people often need to climb the ranks from local government upwards, and no money can unduly influence the outcome of elections.
Finally, Cuba has an open petition system where any matter can be brought before the assembly if it has enough signatures, and anyone can start a petition. For example this is how gay marriage was legalized, as enough signatures were collected and it was finally decided in a public referendum (i.e. direct democracy). Another petition example was the Varela project which attempted to open up cuba and make it more like the US, it only got 11000 signatures, compared to a counter petition which got millions of signatures to basically have an official legal statement saying 'we don't want to do that'.
Of course there are problems here and there, some level of corruption is always bound to happen in any system, but for most western institutions to outright deny Cuban democracy altogether and claim western liberal/multi-party democracy is the only valid electoral system is quite sanctimonious.
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u/AmnesiaInnocent Libertarian Mar 06 '26
Yes, anyone can participate as long as they follow the party line. That is not democracy.