Cuba votes on updated constitution

HAVANA, Feb 25 (AP): Cubans were asked Sunday to send an overwhelming message of approval for the country's communist system as its founding generation of geriatric former guerrillas cedes the public spotlight to a new class of middle-aged bureaucrats.

Voters were expected to overwhelmingly approve the draft of a new constitution that preserves the single-party socialist system and centrally planned economy while making some updates.

The new constitution recognises private and cooperative businesses alongside state ones, creates the posts of prime minister and provincial governor, and introduces the presumption of innocence and habeas corpus to the justice system.

The only open question was how overwhelming the "yes" vote would be. The current constitution was approved by 97.7 per cent of voters in a referendum in 1976, the peak of a system dedicated to displays of national unity.