THE 

 CUBA REVIEW 



"ALL ABOUT CUBA." 



Copyright, 1907, by the Munson Steamship Line. 



Volume VI. NOVEMBER, 1908. Number 12. 



THE CUBAN ELECTIONS. 



General Jose Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas, Candidates of the Liberal Party 

 for President and Vice-President, Carry Every Province. Congratula- 

 tions of President Roosevelt and Governor Magoon. 



Cubans voted November 14 for President, Vice-President, Senators and Rep- 

 resentatives in Congress, in whose hands the government of the island republic 

 will be committed on the 28th of next January. 



The elections were carried on under the supervision of American officials who 

 had schooled Cuban subordinates as to the way to receive, sort and count votes, 

 and in general to perform those duties which devolve upon precinct officers in this 

 country. The Australian ballot was used. 



On the following day, November 15, practically complete official returns showed 

 that the Liberal Party had gained a most decisive victory, and that General Jose 

 Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas, the nominees, had been elected President and 

 Vice-President of the Republic of Cuba by an overwhelming majority, removing 

 all doubt as to preferences of the Cuban people. 



Official returns for 1,360 of a total of 1,498 polling places gave General Jose 

 Miguel Gomez 183,823 votes, against 118,329 for General Mario Menocal, the Con- 

 servative candidate. The Liberals carried every province in the island. Havana 

 Province went Liberal by 25,000, and the city by 13,000. 



The Liberal majorities in the other provinces were approximately as follows: 

 Oriente, 13,500; Santa Clara, 11,000; Camaguey, 1,200; Pinar del Rio, 7,500; 

 Matanzas, 8,000. 



The silent vote of about 182,000 in the August elections, of which the Conser- 

 vatives confidently expected to receive the great majority, went overwhelmingly 

 Liberal. The Liberal gains from this source were fully three times that of the 

 Conservatives. The predictions that the combined Liberal factions, the Miguelistas 

 and Zayistas, would divide at the polls were not fulfilled, the vote going sohdly 

 for General Gomez and Alfredo Zayas. 



The combined Liberal vote on August 1 exceeded the Conservative vote by 

 50,000, with 125,000 registered electors not voting. The Liberal majority on No- 

 vember 14 was 65,494. 



The Liberals constitute the entire new Senate, with the exception of two or 

 three Conservatives, whose terms expire in 1910, and will control the House of 

 Representatives in the proportion of two to one,_ although Governor Magoon said 

 that body would contain a majority of Conservatives. 



Polls were open at 7 o'clock and closed at 6 P. M. Sixty-six per cent, of regis- 

 tered electors voted. 



The Cubans patterned their Presidential election system after that of the United 

 States. They did not vote directly for candidates, but for electors, of which there 

 are 107 divided among the various provinces, as follows: Pinar del Rio, 14; 

 Havana, 26; Matanzas, 14; Santa Clara, 22; Camaguey, 9; Oriente, 22. 



There was splendid order everywhere, which caused Governor Magoon to say: 

 "I cannot express too highly my appreciation of the enthusiasm and perfect regard 

 for order with which the Cuban people have conducted this most important contest. 

 I am absolutely certain that they will loyally abide by the result, establishing to 

 my complete satisfaction their fitness to be entrusted with the government of the 

 republic." 



