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The path of our democracy

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These days, we have witnessed the exchange of candidates for deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power with the population in each of the municipalities where they were nominated. This process, far from the demagogic election campaign that usually takes place in countries that are largely commercialized, is based on the principles of what we know as participatory democracy.

Therefore, it is important to understand that this dialogue between the candidates and the people, in order for it to be autochthonous and truly participatory, must retain its sincerity. Because the point is not only that the candidate knows his responsibility as a future legislator, but also that every person from the district understands their active and leading role in our decisions at all levels.

No one better than the people who face it every day can understand the difficulties and shortcomings, as well as the possible solutions to a particular problem or the urgent transformation that each locality requires. Hence the value of this connection between the deputy and the people as a strong, reliable and systemic one.

Contrary to what some may conveniently say and interpret, democracy is not solely based on the exercise of suffrage and voting for a particular candidate, even if this is essential to its construction. It would be an oversimplification to look at it from this point of view, since there is nothing more important than a collective and direct construction: something that starts with criticism, with a social approach to our delegates and representatives in parliament, and ends with getting their nuances and management in a timely manner for effective and final answer.

We must continue to strive for this on the decisive path we are now on. To remain halfway would mean, to a certain extent, to miss a valuable step within socialism, which also has much to do with popular identification and trust in its representatives.

Because participatory democracy is inherently inclusive and moves away from the frivolous, sophisticated and almost always elitist representative democracy that is the hallmark of capitalist societies.

In Cuba, participation is combined with representation. For example, according to section 21 of the Electoral Law, one deputy will be elected from every 30,000 inhabitants or faction exceeding 15,000; Thus, all municipalities will have at least two deputies, and we will be represented in one way or another by people living near us, which makes our process an autochthonous case of international importance.

In the conditions in which we live, the biggest problem for the candidates for deputies, for whom we will vote in the national elections on March 26, is to carry out this connection with the people not in stages, but constantly; and in this cycle of dialogues and actions, the presentation of accounts will be an ideal space, always evolving: a moment when every Cuban can feel that he is contributing and being listened to in this sovereign path of our democracy.

Source: Juventud Rebelde

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