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Cuba Vote Opens Final Chapter of Castro Era

In this file photo taken on November 26, 2017 a schoolboy remains standing at a polling station at Nautico neighbourhood in Havana during municipal elections
In this file photo taken on November 26, 2017 a schoolboy remains standing at a polling station at Nautico neighbourhood in Havana during municipal elections
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Cuba Vote Opens Final Chapter of Castro Era

In this file photo taken on November 26, 2017 a schoolboy remains standing at a polling station at Nautico neighbourhood in Havana during municipal elections
In this file photo taken on November 26, 2017 a schoolboy remains standing at a polling station at Nautico neighbourhood in Havana during municipal elections

Cubans go to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new National Assembly marking a historic step in a process leading to the election of a new president outside the Castro family.

More than eight million Cubans will vote to ratify two official lists of candidates - one to form the 605-member National Assembly and another to constitute the 14 provincial assemblies totaling 1,265 delegates.

The new members of the National Assembly will be tasked with choosing a successor to 86-year-old President Raul Castro who steps down next month.

Raul took over in 2006 from his ailing brother Fidel, who had governed since seizing power during the 1959 revolution, AFP reported.

"They're the most important elections of recent years, because we are going to vote for new people who will govern from then on," day-care center guardian Ramon Perez told AFP.

The designation of candidates is based on merit, abilities and the commitment of the people," Raul Castro said when he announced the elections last year.

More than half of the candidates, 322, are women.

First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, is expected to become president, according to Reuters.

"There will still be a president of Cuba in the process of defending the revolution," Canel said in November.

Turnout for the election is expected to be around 90 percent, although voting is voluntary.

Opposition criticism of the process centers around the fact that the president is not chosen in direct elections.

For opposition, however, the only choice being not to vote for a certain candidate, leave blank or spoil one’s ballot.

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The Scale of Afghans Returning from Iran is Overwhelming, Says UN Official

Afghan refugees who returned after fleeing Iran to escape deportation and conflict arrive at a UNHCR facility near the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, Afghanistan, on Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)
Afghan refugees who returned after fleeing Iran to escape deportation and conflict arrive at a UNHCR facility near the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, Afghanistan, on Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)
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The Scale of Afghans Returning from Iran is Overwhelming, Says UN Official

Afghan refugees who returned after fleeing Iran to escape deportation and conflict arrive at a UNHCR facility near the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, Afghanistan, on Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)
Afghan refugees who returned after fleeing Iran to escape deportation and conflict arrive at a UNHCR facility near the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, Afghanistan, on Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

The pace and scale of Afghans returning from Iran are overwhelming already fragile support systems, a senior UN official warned Tuesday, with tens of thousands of people crossing the border daily exhausted and traumatized, relying on humanitarian aid.

So far this year, more than 1.4 million people have returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan, including over 1 million from Iran.

Iran and Pakistan in 2023 launched separate campaigns to expel foreigners they said were living in the country illegally. They set deadlines and threatened them with deportation if they didn’t leave. The two governments deny targeting Afghans, who have fled their homeland over the decades to escape war, poverty or Taliban rule, The AP news reported.

The UN special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, called for immediate international support for Afghanistan following a visit to the Islam Qala border crossing in western Herat province near Iran.

The “sheer volume of returns —many abrupt, many involuntary,” should be setting off alarm bells across the global community, Otunbayeva said.

“Without swift interventions, remittance losses, labor market pressures and cyclical migration will lead to devastating consequences such as the further destabilization of both returnee and host populations, renewed displacement, mass onward movement, and risks to regional stability,” she said.

Returns from Iran peaked in June following a 20 March government deadline requiring all “undocumented” Afghans to leave. The UN migration agency recorded more than 28,000 people crossing back into Afghanistan on June 25.

Afghanistan is a ‘forgotten crisis’ Most Afghans depend on humanitarian assistance to survive. But deep funding cuts are worsening the situation, with aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations forced to cut education and health care programs.

Nicole van Batenburg, from the International Federation of the Red Cross, said Afghan children returning from Iran are developing scabies, fever and other illnesses because of deteriorating conditions at the border and the hot weather. Her colleagues were reuniting hundreds of children daily who got separated from their parents.

People lost their belongings and documents in the chaos of hasty exits. Most were only able to take a few suitcases with them, and some were now using their luggage as makeshift furniture.

“Afghanistan is an unseen crisis, and there are so many crises going on at this moment in the world that it seems to be forgotten,” van Batenburg told The Associated Press by phone from the border.

“The problems and the challenges are immense. We’re only talking about the situation here at the border, but these people have to return to some areas where they can live longer and where they can rebuild their lives.”

Last week, the Norwegian Refugee Council said many of its staff were hosting returning families in their homes. Authorities were doing their best to mobilize the few resources they had, but local systems were not equipped to cope with “such tremendous” needs.