Cubans lined up at polling stations Sunday for municipal elections in the one-party Communist-run island, even as the country's small opposition called for a boycott. More than 8.5 million Cubans over age 16 are eligible to choose candidates vying for municipal councils across the country.
The government extols the "transparent and democratic" election process, including the nomination of candidates at popular assemblies held at the neighbourhood level.
Dissidents decry the process here as anything but democratic. They say the ruling Community party may not officially nominate candidates, but it ensures, thanks to its influence and votes from sympathisers, that no dissident will ever get on the ballot.
As in previous elections, the opposition called for voters to boycott the vote, to hand in a blank ballot or to write an opposition slogan.
Voting is not mandatory, but government supporters go door-to-door to drum up participation, and the state-run media maintains an intense campaign calling for people to go to the polls.
Turnout was nearly 95 percent in the last municipal vote, in 2010, and only about eight percent of the ballots were annulled, according to the election commission.