On the beginning of the accountability process of the constituency delegate, on November 10, and about the steps that continue to be taken in the improvement of the Popular Power system, the president and the vice president of the Commission for Attention to Local Bodies of the National Assembly of People’s Power and vice president of the Commission for Constitutional and Legal Affairs spoke.

“The People’s Power system is very ours, unique, it has no references in the world. At the center of power is the people. It is the essence of the socialist and democratic State that our Constitution endorses”, said Yumil Rodríguez Fernández, vice president of the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the National Assembly of People’s Power during his speech at the Round Table.

He recalled article 3 of the Constitution that defines that sovereignty resides non-transferable in the people, and that they exercise it in two ways: directly in the assemblies where they participate, in the processes of nomination of candidates, of consultations, of elections; indirectly, through the assemblies and the organs that these assemblies constitute.

In this regard, Rodríguez Fernández said that when we talk about the Popular Power system, we tend to talk about the system made up of assemblies and delegates, but it is not really like that: It is made up of several bodies that function in their entirety, including:

National Assembly of People’s Power.

Higher bodies of the State.

Provincial Governments.

Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power.

Delegates.

Regarding the latter, the vice president stressed the importance of always choosing the best and most capable because they are those who are closest to the people and those who can channel their concerns and dissatisfactions in the best possible way.

“Every day we have to prepare more the delegates to strengthen their bond with the voters,” he emphasized.

Regarding the improvement of the People’s Power, the deputy said that this system is not static and some ways have been sought since it emerged to eliminate its deficiencies.

This improvement must begin from the National Assembly of People’s Power itself, which is the one at the top of the structure of the State in Cuba to the work of the constituency delegate, he added.

The Constitution of 76, the Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Constitution of 2019 have contributed to this, which ratified the People’s Power system and introduces new actors such as the President of the Republic.

“We always say that in the territories the most important thing was the creation of the provincial governments, and it was not so, what we did was to strengthen the municipality, where the People’s Power system is truly developed. This is one of the most important things in the 2019 Constitution”, he commented.

He also said: “We cannot forget the ideas of the thinker and creator of the Popular Power system who is the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and that were consolidated with Raúl; nor what has been done in recent years from the leadership of the National Assembly and under the leadership of Esteban Lazo”.

The vice president of the Constitutional Affairs Commission said that after the Magna Carta was approved in 2019, the National Assembly has started strong legislative work. “Today, despite COVID-19, the short time and limitations, all organization and development laws have been approved, from the municipality to the province.”

He also commented that in March of this year the State Council approved that the National Secretariat of People’s Power have an independent department in the provinces. “It is very important because relations with all the municipal assemblies of the country and with the provincial governments are guaranteed.”

The provincial governments can not be alien to anything that is developed in their demarcation, therefore -he said- we have told these departments that all the information that can be provided to the governor or the other members of the provincial government, where we can discuss a lot of this information, give it to them, because that will allow them to better exercise their functions.

He recalled that only two years ago the Constitution was approved and they are learning to work with those regulations. “Good results have been achieved and there is a greater link between the Municipal Assemblies and the Boards of Directors in the territories.”

Speaking at the Round Table on Monday, the president of the Commission for Attention to Local Bodies of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Miriam Brito Sarroca, pointed out that the comprehensive action program to improve People’s Power emerged to reverse the opinions on the delegates of the Popular Power system.

“The opinions of the People’s Power cannot be reversed if we do not seek an economic efficiency that really responds to the proposals and social problems that arise,” she said.

Brito Sarroca stressed the importance of the sensitivity of the delegates and leaders with the problems of the population: “The delegates have the function of representing the people, but so do the administrative entities.”

The president of the Commission pointed out that delegates cannot be trained, on the one hand, and that administrative leaders are not up to the task, on the other.

Among the vicissitudes of Popular Power, Brito Sarroca commented on the need to continue developing bonds with voters and to provide convincing answers to them.

“Despite these difficulties, in this five-year period, more than 9,700 delegates of the 12,513 that we have in the country have remained with us, who were elected first and then their mandate was extended, and that says a lot about the commitment of our delegates”, he said.

The president of the Commission for Attention to Local Bodies of the National Assembly of People’s Power also stressed the importance of popular participation: “For this, it is essential that we control how the municipal assemblies comply with the guarantees of the rights of petition that the voters have and that the delegates transfer to the president of the assembly”.

Brito Sarroca affirmed that currently a total of 166 municipal assemblies have been held, “and this is linked to the process of accountability that we have at our doorstep.”

For his part, the vice president of the Commission for Attention to Local Bodies of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Carlos Rafael Fuentes León, recalled that accountability is one of the principles of article 101 of the Constitution.

“The accountability of the delegate to their electors is a direct way for citizens to participate in the exercise of power with their criteria, considerations and ideas to solve community problems,” he stressed and added that this is a distinctive element of the Cuban political system.

He stressed that the voter attends the rendering of accounts not to fulfill a duty, but to exercise their right to participate: “The rendering of accounts is the act by which the delegate reports on their management in a given period, and the voters know and evaluate this management”.

Fuentes León affirmed that it is a process in which the delegates inform their electors of the main activities carried out in the community, in the municipality itself, the province and, in general, of the policies that the country develops.

The accountability process – he said – will take place between November 10 and December 23 and “has the particular characteristic that it develops after not taking place in 2020 due to the confrontation with COVID-19.”

Of the 12,513 delegates that exist throughout the country, there is a group that has not previously developed an accountability process, so they require a great deal of preparation, and work is being done on this.

“On November 10, each Popular Council will hold an assembly,” he stressed and concluded that the Popular Power system gives the possibility of being active in the exercise of power.