April 27th, 2010 - Close to a million Cubans turned their back on the Castro regime in the mockery of municipal elections conducted this past Sunday in the Caribean island. According to the data offered by Cuban official media yesterday, 993.305 did not exercise their right to vote or vote against the government, nullifying or leaving their ballots blank.

According to non-verifiable and traditionally propagandistic statistics from the Cuban government, of the 8.205.994 voters who went to the polls (of an eligible 8.468.144), a 4.33% nullified their ballots while a 4.58% left their ballots blank. Add to these “rebellious” ballots the percentage of abstentions: 4.1%, a number that has grown for the first time in these reports.

Not participating in elections carries negative consequences for Cuban workers and students. The million people in Cuba who did not join the electoral farce or boycotted it by delivering blank ballots (an act of protest that challenges the so-called “joint vote” from the Castro regime, which promotes voting for all the candidates, who have been previously hand- picked by the government) or nullified ballots (as in the case of hunger striker Guillermo Fariñas, who wrote in his ballot: “Down with the Castro Tyranny”), is not alone. They would have to be added to the millions of Cubans living in exile who’s right to vote has been revoked by the Cuban regime.