The new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba was popularly approved with 86.85 percent of the votes cast according to preliminary data, informed Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, president of the National Electoral Commission.

In the referendum, 7 million 848 thousand 343 Cubans went to the colleges to decide (yes or no) on the new constitutional text.

Of the total ballots deposited in ballot boxes, 7,522,569 were valid (95.85%), 127,100 null (1.62%) and 198,674 blank (2.53%).

Balseiro Gutiérrez said that 6 million 816 thousand 169 voters voted YES (86.85%) and 706 thousand 400 opted for NO (9.0%).

"According to article 137 of the current constitution, the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, subject to a constitutional referendum on February 24, 2019, has been ratified by the majority of citizens with electoral rights." , confirmed the president of the National Electoral Commission.

Why is the information preliminary?

On the electoral roll, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez clarified that at the beginning of the voting, at 7:00 a.m., "a basic part of 8 million 669 thousand 714 voters was informed". However, at
6:00 p.m., "634 thousand 034 inclusions were reported".

In the coming days, we will proceed to make these results compatible, "she said," because many of the voters incorporated during the day were already registered in the basic part, but in a different residence area.

"That is, they can be repeated in the list, so the information is preliminary," said Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez.

The president of the National Electoral Commission said that the official results of the constitutional referendum will be announced later. "This will increase participation rates once the process is concluded," Balseiro predicted at a press conference.