Published December 03, 2015
Cuba is holding first local elections since a historic thaw in relations with the United States. And there's an unusual wrinkle in the single-party system: Two of the 27,000 candidates openly oppose the government.
Hildebrando Chaviano and Yuniel Lopez were chosen by a show of hands in Havana neighborhood nominating meetings and hope to win two of the 12,589 seats at stake on municipal councils Sunday.
A win by either would have symbolic but little immediate practical implication for the Communist Party system.
Municipal assemblies are at the bottom rung of the formal electoral system. They nominate half the candidates for provincial assemblies, which in turn choose half the candidates for the national parliament, which chooses the Council of State, which in turn elects the president.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/cuba-holds-1st-vote-since-thaw-with-us-in-unusual-twist-2-dissidents-on-ballots