Despite the fact that years ago it had been a subject of great consensus, although it was approved, equal marriage in Cuba left a tasteless feeling in the government, which was possibly betting on this card to gauge your popularity and sympathize with the citizens.
(Also read: Cuba: what does the new Family Code that was ratified in a referendum say?)
Cubans said “yes” to the Family Code, a broad legal reform that includes same-sex marriage and surrogacy, in a referendum with historic numbers of votes against and abstentions.
The results, released this Monday, are bittersweet for the Cuban government, which saw how the option for which it relentlessly advocated in the weeks prior to the consultation triumphed, but with a rate of disagreement (abstention and vote against) much higher than that of the previous referendums on the island.
The “yes” obtained 66.87% of the votes cast, for the 33.13% that the “no” added. Abstention rose to 26%, according to the National Electoral Council (CEN) with preliminary results of the referendum organized the day before.
Of a census of 8,447,467 people over 16 years of age and with the right to vote, 3,936,790 were in favor (46.6% of the total census), while 1,950,090 voted against (23.1%). ). In addition, 2,195,681 abstained (26%) and 364,906 invalid ballots (4.3%) were counted.
In comparison, in the constitutional referendum of 2019 the participation was 84.4% and the favorable vote was 87%, and in the constitutional consultation of 1976 the participation exceeded 99% and the yes reached 98%, according to official data.
The former Cuban diplomat and political analyst Carlos Alzugaray considered in an interview with Efe that the result has a “positive” side, the approval of “progressive” and “advanced” legislation, but which should also be an “alarm signal” for the Government.
The vote against had different reasons -from religious to political-, Alzugaray pointed out, but the abstention is for him “a reflection of popular discontent”, in part because “the Government does not give a ball with the main problems of the country” .
He stressed that the government has lost the “mobilizing capacity of the past,” despite the “overwhelming propaganda” from all Cuban institutions in recent weeks.
In his opinion, an “important part” of the population was not convinced by the government’s arguments for “yes” and did not go to vote, “defying the old Cuban precept that not voting marks you” and may have consequences.
This is something, considered the former diplomat, that the Cuban government should take into account in the face of the electoral processes that begin next November, with elections at the municipal level for the renewal of positions.
“Victory of socialist construction”
For his part, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, described the results as “one more victory for socialist construction” and recognized the headwind both due to “discrepancies with the content” and for political and economic reasons.
“With the approval of that code, today we have more rights in Cuba. It was a vote for Cuba, It was a yes for Cuba, it was a yes for the Revolution,” said the president, according to the official newspaper Granma.
Díaz-Canel stressed that the “yes” victory was achieved “despite a context of difficult economic and social and energy situations, with migratory movements,” in addition to the “understandable discrepancies in some of the issues that, due to the scope of the code They were boarded.”
A video posted on Twitter by the Cuban Presidency showed Díaz-Canel applauding along with other authorities of the country when learning, during a meeting, the results of the consultation.
Also on this social network, the president wrote: “Approving the Family Code is doing justice. It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this Law for years.
Starting today, we will be a better nation.” The referendum on the Family Code was the first for a particular law and the third in general to be held in Cuba since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. The extensive text, law framework on family law that reforms one of 1975, contemplates in addition to equal marriage and surrogacy, adoption by homosexual couples and the prohibition of child marriage, and addresses gender violence.
Before being approved in July of this year by the National Assembly (unicameral Parliament), version 25 of the Family Code was widely consulted by the Cuban population between February and April in 79,000 meetings in neighborhoods and municipalities.
This is the only project that has gone to a referendum among the 70 legal regulations updated as a result of the introduction of the new Constitution, unlike other laws such as the Penal Code. It was published in the Official Gazette on July 22 of this year.
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