Cubans went to the polls Sunday to vote in municipal elections, the first since ailing leader Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother last year.
Cuba's roughly eight million people are electing more than 15,000 municipal council members.
Sunday's vote is the start of an electoral process that will culminate with the election of a new National Assembly next March. Lawmakers could then decide whether to officially replace Castro with his brother, Raul Castro.
Fidel has not appeared in public since transferring power to Raul following emergency surgery for an intestinal illness in July 2006.
In a newspaper column published Saturday, Fidel said the Cuban electoral system is opposite of that in the U.S., where he says one has to be extremely rich or have an enormous amount of financial backing to run for office.
Critics of Cuba's electoral process say there is no real freedom to choose opposition members, since candidates are nominated for municipal positions in open neighborhood meetings.
The United States has said it hopes for a transition to democracy on the communist-run island.
Close to a 95-percent voter turn-out is expected in the election. Failing to vote in elections is frowned upon by the neighborhood committees.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
