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During his regular Sunday Alo Presidente TV program, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez highlighted Raul Castro”s election by the National Peoples Power Assembly as president of Cuba”s Council of State.
Venezuela to Announce Economic Policy

Chavez stressed that the new president has been an inseparable partner of his brother Fidel Castro since the days of Moncada and the Sierra Maestra.

Raul has always been there, in silence but actively working, faithful to the revolution, to the Cuban people and to Fidel, the Venezuelan president affirmed.

The Venezuelan revolution owes many thanks Fidel Castro, Raul and the Cuban people.

Chavez also stressed Fidel Castro”s conscious decision to renounce reelection.

Ricardo Alarcon, incumbent president of Cuba”s National Assembly of People”s Power, was reelected to his post Sunday during the opening of the assembly”s seventh legislature.

Infografía: Presidencia Asamblea Nacional

Alarcon was reelected a third time as the National Assembly”s president, with incumbent vice president Jaime Crombet also reelected.

Miriam Brito was elected secretary, replacing Ernesto Suarez.

Alarcon, born May 21, 1937 in Havana, is a graduate of the University of Havana with a doctorate in philosophy.

He became active in Cuba”s revolutionary struggle while at the university, where he was appointed president of the Federation of University Students in 1959.

In 1962, he was appointed director of the Foreign Ministry”s Americas division. Between 1966 and 1978 he served as Cuba”s permanent representative to the United Nations.

In 1978, he was appointed first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He became Foreign Affairs minister in 1992 until, in February 1993, he became president of the Cuban National Assembly.

He is a member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party since the Party”s second congress, and was promoted to the Political Board in the fifth congress.

On January 20, 2008, Alarcon was elected deputy from the Plaza de la Revolucion municipality.

The establishment Sunday of the Cuban National Assembly’s seventh legislature marks the conclusion of the general elections process begun July 9, 2007.

At today´s session the 614 lawmakers will elect the president, vice president and secretary of this legislative body, as well as the 31 members of the State Council, the organ of the National People’s Power Assembly representing it between each ordinary period of sessions.

The Council of State is made up of the president, who is chief of State and government, one first vice president, five vice presidents, a secretary, and 23 other members.

It has a collegiate nature and, for national and foreign purposes, is the highest representation of the Cuban State, as stipulated in Article 89 of the Constitution.

When voting, the deputies will take into consideration the proposals made by the National Candidacy Commission, in which are represented student and grassroots organizations.

In October Cubans chose 15,235 municipal delegates from the more than 37,300 citizens proposed in the neighborhoods September 1-26.

Once elected and constituted, on December 2 these delegates nominated the candidates to the provincial and national assemblies.

Cuban legislators have the responsibility Sunday of electing the new president of the Council of State, a position that leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro has occupied since the People”s Power National Assembly was created in 1976.

Fidel Castro had also been chairing the Council of Ministers, while holding the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Five days before the seventh legislature of the People”s Power National Assembly was constituted, the leader of the Cuban Revolution announced his decision not to aspire to or accept re-election.

It is the responsibility now of the 614 elected legislators to play the historic role of choosing, from among them, the 31 members of the Council of State through secret ballot, including its president, first vice president, five vice presidents, and the secretary.

In line with the Cuban Constitution, it is the duty of the president of the Council of State and chief of government to represent the State and government, govern general policy, organize and lead its activities, and preside over the sessions of the Councils of State and Ministers.

The president also has the powers of watching over and coping with progress of activities within the ministries and other central organisms of the State.

In the military order, the Cuban leader holds the supreme leadership of all armed institutions, agrees on their general organization, and heads the National Defense Council.

Also among the presidential powers are the approval of/ decree laws and other decisions by the Council of State, as well as legal regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers or its Executive Committee, and order their publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution establishes that the president of the Council of State can be replaced in his functions by the first vice president in case of absence, illness or death.

First Vice President Raul Castro attends today the first session of the 7th legislature of the People´s Power National Assembly, in which the new Cuban Council of State is to be elected.

The seventh legislature of parliament will be constituted when the 614 deputies assume their posts to which they were elected at the second stage of general elections, held last January 20.

This is the first occasion since 1976 that Fidel Castro, leader of the Revolution, is absent from the nomination to President of the Council of State, as five days ago he announced he would not aspire or accept being reelected to that post for health reasons.

Thus the nomination and election of a new president of the highest Cuban state organ for a period of five years takes on a special relevance.

Cuba´s current government system was approved by 97,7 percent of the voters taking part in the referendum held on February 24, 1976 and on December 2 of that same year, the first legislature of the People´s Power National Assembly assumed its duties.

The constitutive session of the 7th legislature started at 10:00 local time, at the Convention Palace in this capital, under the direction of the National Electoral Commission (CEN), Maria Esther Reus.

Reus immediately began to read the list of deputies while other members of the CEN examine and validate the election certificates of each deputy.

Having done this, the head of the CEN will declare its validity, inform about the social composition of the elected deputies and once assistance is checked, the national anthem will be heard, the deputies will take the oath to their posts and sign the list, so the National Assembly is formally constituted.

The nomination and election of those who will occupy the post of President, Vicepresident and Secretary of the Parliament will follow.

After that, deputies will nominate and elect those who will assume the posts of President, First Vicepresident, Five Vicepresidents, Secretary and other members of the Council of State.

Those proposed to the high posts were taken from a list made after a wide consultation process carried out by the National Candidacy Commission (CCN), formed by representatives of civil Cuban organizations.

The president of the CCN, Amarilys Perez, will then submit to the deputies the two candidacy projects and explain the bases on which they were made.

On her part, the president of the National Electoral Commission will ask the approval by the deputies of both candidacy projects and will then carry out the election by secret and direct vote.

According to the Electoral Law, those who obtain over 50 percent of the valid votes, will be declared elected.

The Cuban Constitution establishes that “in the Republic of Cuba sovereignty lies in the people, from which stems all the power of the State.” It adds that “such power is exercised directly or through the People´s Power assemblies and the rest of the State organs derived from them, in the form and according to the norms established by the Constitution and its laws.” Also, the Council of State is the People´s Power National Assembly organ which represents it between session periods, executes the accords of parliament and carries out the rest of the functions attributed by the Constitution.

It has a consensual nature and in the domestic and international issues, holds the supreme representation of the Cuban State.