The popular referendum on the new Family Code in Cuba has drawn the attention of Latin American and European jurists who do comparative law studies, Dr. Leonardo Perez Gallardo said on Sunday.

Havana, Cuba.- A professor of the Faculty of Law at the University of Havana and a member of the drafting committee of the law said on Cuban television that when a regulation on a subject is started in a culturally close country, it generates a domino effect, “as happened in the 20th century with the divorce of couples.”

Regarding the legislation being voted on Sunday by nearly eight million Cubans, he stressed that it represents a portrait of society and has served to “evaluate ourselves, dissent, seek consensus.”

Gallardo asserted that with this Family Code, Cuba would be a fairer nation, where rights are protected and recognized. From its entry into force a whole legal package will be approved that will also contribute to the people’s culture.

New aspects such as the possibility of choosing the order of surnames, the introduction of the concept of parental responsibility and gestation in solidarity, and the fact that family violence does not prescribe are just samples of the issues that this law incorporates, the president of the Cuban Society of Civil and Family Law said.

More than 23,000 polling stations opened throughout the country for this legislative referendum in an unprecedented act in the constitutional history of Cuba, which with this step is one of the few nations that have developed such an institution of direct democracy. (PL)