Midterm parliamentary elections were held inCuba on 1 November 1914 in order to fill half the seats in theHouse of Representatives,[1] as well as a single seat in the Senate. TheNational Conservative Party was the biggest winner, taking 22 of the 49 House seats and the sole Senate seat.
Although there were initial reportings of a steady and well-organized election, later information would come to dispute that, starting with a controversy regarding whether or not PresidentMario Menocal should have been allowed to vote, due to him having failed to register in the district that he lived in.[4] Later evidence would come forth showing an election that was tampered withballot harvesting andvoter fraud.
As reported by theJournal Gazette, allegations of fraud were rampant following the conclusion of the election. It was reported that there was a <10% voter turnout, yet the La Habana Province saw a voter turnout of 1,200,000, despite the fact that 7 years prior, the entire population of Cuba was barely above 2,000,000 people.[5] Votes were alleged to be sold in lots for $200. Despite calls for an annulment of the election due to fraud, the election was not recalled.[6] It is generally believed that the election was, at least in party, fraudulent. The Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record, while not reporting fraud, echoed similar concerns of inconsistency and suspicion regarding population issues in La Habana province.[7]
TheBaltimore Sun reported similar claims. 2 days after the election, the 10% voter turnout statistics had been leaked. It was also recorded that some of the alleged voter fraud contained the names of dead men, such as Evaristo Estenoz, who had died a 4 years before the election during theNegro Rebellion. Later, it was reported that the Senate had failed to fill a quorum, and a message written by President Menocal regarding the state of the agricultural sector's economy.[8] Earlier in the year, the Sun had reported on fraudulent votes within the senate, stating that in the process to elect aSpeaker of the House back on August 31 had 3 more votes cast than there were members in Congress, leading to more suspicion that the 1914 nationwide election could have been tampered with.[9]
^"Censos en Cuba" [Census in Cuba](PDF) (in Spanish). National Office of Statistics of Cuba. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 10 March 2013. Retrieved24 February 2014.
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