Elections march on in Cuba with no word on Fidel Castro

[Jimmy2]

Elections march on in Cuba with no word on Fidel Castro's future

AP

Friday, November 02, 2007

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) - Newly elected municipal assemblies will convene across Cuba in two weeks as the communist-run island's multitiered-election process advances without word on the future of an ailing Fidel Castro.

In an order published yesterday on the front page of the state newspaper Granma, Cuba's top executive body decreed that the 15,236 municipal assembly members elected on October 21 and in two subsequent run-off votes will meet for the first time on November 16. The order was signed by Castro's brother and acting president Raul.

Assembly members will later start choosing candidates for parliamentary elections due some time next spring.

It is unclear whether Fidel Castro, 81, will be healthy enough to run for parliament - where he must hold a seat to remain head of government. Even if he retains his seat, legislators could decide to replace him with his brother as head of the Council of State.

Fidel Castro has been Cuba's unchallenged leader for nearly five decades, from his 1959 overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista until July 2006, when emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to his younger brother, hisa designated successor.

The elder Castro has not been seen in public since, although he continues to sign published essays every few days and appeared lucid in recent government videos. He retains his post atop the governing Council of State.