CUBA 20 January 2008 Cuba holds parliamentary election. Fidel Castro on ballot 

In January most of some 8.23 million voters will choose 609 deputies to the Cuban National Assembly for 5-year terms and 1199 to 14 provincial assemblies. A seat in parliament is the first step in a process that would allow the ailing President Fidel Castro to retain his post atop the Council of State. He remains on the ballot despite a statement made in December that suggested he did not plan to cling to power.

Fidel Castro temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul in July of 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery. In Dec 2007 Raul Castro said his 81-year-old brother's health is improving, that he has been exercising regularly -- regaining weight and muscle mass.

If Fidel Castro, who has led the country since 1959, is elected and continues to stay in the background, the new parliament will be watched for debate about political reform.

Cuba says its electoral system, set up in 1976, is the most democratic in the world because money cannot buy votes and delegates are chosen at the neighbourhood level and then get elected to the provincial and national assemblies.

Critics point out that Cuban elections are neither free nor fair, as candidates must belong to one of the six organiations that are regarded as mouthpieces of the one-party regime. These include the Confederation of Cuban Workers and the National Association of Small Farmers. Oct/07