All the votes must count!

Cuba Parliament Must Decide on Castro
HAVANA (AP) - Preliminary results are expected this afternoon in Cuba's parliamentary elections. Cubans are being asked to back 614 top Communists, career politicians, musicians and athletes for posts in the legislature, known as the National Assembly.

Only one choice appeared for each post in districts across the country and there was no campaigning. The Communist Party is the only party allowed, but the government says membership is not a prerequisite for the parliament that rubber stamps official party policy.

Fidel Castro, the ailing 81-year-old leader who has not been seen in public for nearly 18 months, was among the candidates.

The U.S. government and opposition leaders have dismissed the election as a sham and say reported turnouts lead to a false sense of unanimity.

There was no doubt that voters in Castro's home district would re-elect him to the National Assembly, where he must hold a seat to be eligible to stay on as chief of the island's governing body, the Council of State. The 614 candidates in Sunday's legislative election ran unopposed.

Still unknown, however, is whether the assembly will choose Castro as council president when it convenes for the first time on Feb. 24, or whether the bearded revolutionary will step down after nearly 50 years at Cuba's helm.

He's a mass-murderer but why let facts get in the way of a good story?

Cuban officials say they support Castro's continued presidency, but Castro himself has hinted at retirement, without making his intentions clear. In December, he wrote that he has no intention of clinging to power or standing in the way of a new generation of leaders. Last week, he said he was not well enough to speak to the voters in his district of Santiago.

"I do what I can: I write," he added in an essay published in official media, seeming frustrated. "Writing is not the same as speaking."

On Sunday, Castro cast his ballot as he convalesced at an undisclosed location. He provisionally ceded power to his younger brother Raul in July 2006 following emergency intestinal surgeries, but remained head of the Council of State.

Election officials picked up Castro's sealed ballot and ceremoniously delivered it to a polling place near the Plaza of the Revolution, the seat of government power in Havana. During previous elections, Castro traveled to Santiago on the other end of the island to cast his ballot, trailed by reporters, photographers and cameramen.

But officials insist his health is good enough for him to continue as Cuba's leader.

"You should have no doubt that he's ready," National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told reporters after casting his ballot. "He is in a position to continue that job, and the vast majority of Cuba will be more than happy (about that), myself included."

About 8.4 million voters on Sunday backed 614 candidates who ran for the rubber-stamp parliament. Electoral officials said an estimated 95 percent of registered voters had cast ballots an hour before polling stations closed Sunday evening.

Cuba maintains that its balloting is more democratic than most because those running are chosen by municipal leaders nominated at neighborhood gatherings. But U.S. officials and other critics counter that the elections do not represent a real opportunity for Cubans to decide for themselves how and by whom they will be governed. Only one candidate appears on the ballot for each district post.

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Read it all at MyWay/AP

Election officials in the Florida counties of Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Volusia were unavailable for comment.