Kathmandu — Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez was elected as the President of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, this Wednesday during the constitutive session of the 9th Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP), the official news agency ACN has reported.
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, President of the National Electoral Commission of the Socialist Republic of Cuba announced the result of the vote on 604 ballots cast at the Havana Convention Center, when 99.83 percent of the valid votes were cast in the favour of Díaz-Canel Bermúdez. He obtained 602 out of 604 in the Presidential election held as per the electoral policy of the socialist state.
The new President of the Council of State will also head the Government, as established in the Cuban constitution.
In order to shape the project of candidatures unanimously approved by the deputies on Wednesday, it was said that the manifest will of Raúl Castro Ruz was taken into account, who in the last session of the ANPP, in December, reiterated that when the 9th Legislature of the ANPP was constituted, he would have concluded his second and last mandate as head of the councils of State and Ministers.
Salvador Valdés Mesa was elected as the First Vice President with all the valid votes cast; as well as the Vice Presidents Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Gladys Bejerano Portela and Inés María Chapman Waugh, except Beatriz Johnson Urrutia who obtained 99.83 percent of the votes.
At the same time, Homero Acosta Álvarez was ratified in the election as Secretary of the Council of State. In the 31-member elected state body, there are 15 women, 11 new members and 12 were ratified.
President elect Mr Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2003 and represents a new generation of people born after the triumph of the Famous Cuban Revolution. He is an Electronic Engineer and has obtained his Masters Degree in Management, ACN reports.
In his biography, his work as a student leader stands out, until he became the first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Young Communist League in Villa Clara and his second secretary in the national leadership.
He has vast experience in political leadership in the Party, promoted since 1993 he became a member of the provincial bureau in Villa Clara, serving as the first secretary in that territory and later in Holguín.
He was appointed Minister of Higher Education in 2009, Vice President of the Council of Ministers in 2012 and elected First Vice President of the Council of State a year later.
