HAVANA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Cuban official said Monday that over 85 percent of registered Cuban voters have participated in Sunday's municipal elections, the first step of an electoral process in the island that will elect a successor to President Raul Castro with the newly constituted parliament.
In a press conference that announced the preliminary results, Alina Balseiro, president of the National Electoral Commission (CEN), said 7,608,404 Cubans voted in the election, a day after the Caribbean nation commemorated the first anniversary of the death of its former president, Fidel Castro.
"We had a massive turnout and our people voted with conscience, unity and responsibility. The process took place in a calm, organized way as we're used to every time there's an election in Cuba," Balseiro said.
According to the official, 11,415 delegates for municipal assemblies had been elected and 1,100 posts will be decided in a run-off vote on Dec. 3.
"Of the total votes cast, 91.71 percent were valid, while 4.12 percent were left blank and 4.07 percent were annulled," said the electoral authority.
"With these preliminary figures, 35.4 percent of elected delegates are women while 14.3 are young people," Balseiro said.
The elected delegates are tasked with local governance in their communities. Most of them can also be candidates for parliamentary elections.
The CEN president said there wasn't a set date for the second stage of the general elections.
In the second stage, half of the candidates for provincial assemblies and Cuba's parliament will be picked by a commission of social organizations while the other half will be selected from the municipal elections in the first stage.
Once the new National Assembly begins its legislature next year, it will elect a new president of the Council of State to replace the current leader, Raul Castro, who is going to step down.
Raul Castro, 86, became president in 2008 and launched a series of socio-economic reforms after his brother Fidel stepped down due to illness.
