Cuba is holding elections Sunday to pick lawmakers at a time when the ruling communist party is struggling to keep a lid on public anger caused by rampant inflation, hunger and blackouts.
The vote, decried as a sham by human rights groups, will pick 470 candidates who were pre-selected by the government to the powerful National Parliament for a five-year term. The system has allowed the Communist Party to control the parliament since its inception in 1976.
Given the party’s tight grip on the island, the only way to gauge anti-government feeling is through the number who annul their vote or refuse to participate, said Juan Antonio Blanco, a political analyst and founder of Cuba Siglo 21, a Florida-based think tank.
