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Cuban vote is first step in determining if Fidel will stay on

Cuba is expected to make moves today that will either pave the way for ailing President Fidel Castro's return to power or make way for him to leave the office for good.

The veteran revolutionary leader must become a National Assembly candidate if he wants to remain president, and recently elected municipal representatives will meet today to nominate candidates to both the provincial and national assemblies.

Then, 614 deputies chosen in Jan. 20 elections will choose from among their midst the 31 members of the Council of State, whose president is the head of state of the Americas' only one-party communist-ruled state.

Castro has traditionally been proposed as a parliamentary candidate by the city of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second city in the east which is considered the cradle of the Cuban revolution.

Cuba-watchers say it is possible he might be elected deputy, but then not run for re-election to the Council of State.

Still, if he is not nominated today, that could clear the way for Raul Castro to take over Cuba's presidency indefinitely.

Or, Cuba could move to a sort of generational hand-off of power by picking another regime heavyweight for the top job.

Castro, 81, has led the council and Cuba for almost five decades but "provisionally" handed over power to his younger brother and longtime number two Raul, 76, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July last year.

Speculation has since been rife as to whether Fidel Castro would return to power.

Cuban officials insisted last year he would resume his full powers, but now generally steer clear from the issue, as the longtime leader continues to convalesce at an undisclosed location.

Fidel Castro has been prolific in writing often rambling opinion pieces published by state-run media, which officials hail as proof he is keeping up with local and world events.

But he has made no public appearance since July last year.

"Fidel has played his historical role and he should leave it to the younger generation," one 28-year-old art student said, asking not to be named.

But a customs worker, 45, insisted that "a revolutionary never retires."
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