Cuba prepares for local 'elections'.

Cuba has started a countdown process for Apr. 17 elections to choose local authorities.

According to Prensa Latina, electoral commissions in Cuba's 169 municipalities have been established ahead of elections for Municipality Assemblies--a "key element in Cuba's unique electoral process by which neighbors gather to elect their candidates."

PL, a mouthpiece of the Castro regime, says "election campaigning is banned," since "money is not a driving force in this process. A candidate's prestige and capacity to serve the people are the only things that count."

By law, a candidate needs at least 50% of votes to be elected. In case no one gets that much, a second round will be held Apr. 24 between the two biggest vote-getters.

"These features of the Cuban electoral system are virtually unknown abroad, as the U.S. has a propaganda campaign in place in order to present it as undemocratic," complains PL. "But Cubans have put their electoral machine into motion again, convinced that it has its own values and has nothing to do with the traditional circus-like, expensive U.S. electoral process."