How the Cuban government works comes down to a layered arrangement written into the 2019 Constitution: the Communist Party sets the country’s political direction, a National Assembly of People’s Power passes the laws and elects the top officials, a President and a Prime Minister split the executive job between them, and provincial governors and locally-elected municipal delegates carry decisions down to neighborhoods. No other party is legal, elections are non-competitive at the national level, and mass organizations that most Cubans belong to sit inside the process itself.
Why the Communist Party Sits Above the Government
Article 5 of the 2019 Constitution designates the Communist Party of Cuba as the “superior driving force of the society and the State.”1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution No other political party can legally exist, and the constitution describes this arrangement as permanent. The Party’s stated job is to orient the country toward building socialism and, eventually, communism.
The Party does not draft legislation or run ministries directly. It sets broad ideological and strategic direction through documents like the “Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy,” which function as a blueprint that the state then carries out. Party members fill key positions throughout the government, so the two structures overlap heavily even though they remain legally distinct. The First Secretary of the Party has historically been among the most powerful figures in the country, and that role has often been held by the same person serving as President.
One point that surprises readers used to multi-party systems: the Party does not nominate candidates for elections. That job belongs to separate Candidacy Commissions run by mass organizations, which sit outside the Party’s formal structure.
Where Laws Come From: The National Assembly
The National Assembly of People’s Power is the supreme organ of state power and the only body that can pass laws or amend the constitution.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution It currently has 470 deputies serving five-year terms.2IPU Parline. Cuba – National Assembly of the People’s Power The Assembly meets for two brief ordinary sessions per year. Most deputies are not full-time legislators and continue working their regular jobs between sessions.
Despite that limited calendar, its formal powers are broad. The Assembly approves the national budget, elects the President and Vice President from among its own deputies, appoints the Prime Minister on the President’s recommendation, and elects the heads of the judiciary, the Attorney General’s Office, the Comptroller General, and the National Electoral Council.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution It can also declare war or approve peace agreements.
Legislation can be introduced from many directions: deputies, the Council of State, the President, the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court on justice matters, mass and social organizations, or citizens through a petition signed by at least 10,000 eligible voters.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution Between sessions, permanent commissions handle the detailed work, covering areas like economics, health, and international relations.
Because the full Assembly meets so infrequently, a smaller body called the Council of State acts as its permanent representative in between. The Council exercises legislative powers on the Assembly’s behalf, including issuing decree-laws that carry the force of law but must be ratified at the next full session.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution A significant volume of binding legal decisions are made this way rather than by the full body of deputies.
Who Runs the Country Day to Day
The 2019 Constitution split executive authority between two roles that had previously been held by one person. Miguel Díaz-Canel serves as President as of 2026.
The President
The President is the Head of State, elected by the National Assembly from among its deputies for a five-year term, with a maximum of two consecutive terms.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution The role covers representing the nation internationally, directing general state policy, and presiding over the Council of State. The President also proposes the Prime Minister to the Assembly and nominates provincial governors.
The Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government, appointed by the National Assembly on the President’s recommendation.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution Where the President handles high-level strategy and international affairs, the Prime Minister manages day-to-day administration. This official leads the Council of Ministers, which the constitution designates as the highest executive and administrative organ of the state. The Council includes the Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers, and the ministers heading individual agencies covering education, transportation, health, agriculture, and other sectors. The Secretary General of the Cuban Workers’ Federation has a standing right to participate in its sessions.
From the Provinces Down to the Neighborhood
One of the biggest structural changes in the 2019 Constitution was the elimination of provincial assemblies. Each of Cuba’s fifteen provinces is now governed by a Provincial Government of People’s Power, led by a Governor and a Provincial Council.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution
The Governor is the top executive authority in the province, but is not elected by residents directly. Instead, delegates from the province’s Municipal Assemblies elect the Governor from a candidate proposed by the President of the Republic. Governors serve five-year terms, must be Cuban citizens by birth with no other citizenship, and must be at least thirty years old and reside in the province. The Provincial Council that supports the Governor is made up of the Deputy Governor, the presidents and vice presidents of all Municipal Assemblies in the province, and the municipal mayors.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution The province’s primary constitutional job is coordination: harmonizing national objectives with local needs without taking over powers that belong to the municipalities.
Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power are where most citizens have their most direct contact with government. The constitution identifies them as the superior local organs of state power within their territories. Delegates are nominated and elected directly by neighborhood residents and hold regular accountability meetings with their constituents. These assemblies handle local services like housing maintenance, public transportation, and community health clinics, and they approve and oversee the municipal budget.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution
Below the municipal assemblies sit People’s Councils, smaller units covering individual neighborhoods or clusters of them. They coordinate between local businesses, schools, and residents, monitor whether services are being delivered, and flag problems that need attention from higher levels.
How Cubans Actually Vote
Cuba’s electoral system looks nothing like a competitive multi-party election. There are no campaign ads, no party tickets, and no fundraising. The process differs sharply depending on whether the seat is municipal or national.
Municipal Elections
Delegates to Municipal Assemblies are nominated directly by residents in neighborhood meetings, not by the Communist Party. Each seat must have between two and eight candidates by law, and voting is by secret ballot. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff is held between the top two. These elections happen every two and a half years, and anyone in the neighborhood can propose a candidate at the nomination meeting.
National Assembly Elections
Deputies to the National Assembly and delegates to provincial bodies are chosen through a different mechanism. Candidacy Commissions, led by the Cuban Workers’ Federation and composed of representatives from the main mass organizations, draw up a single slate of candidates.3CUBADIPLOMATICA. How Do Elections Work in Cuba? Voters then face a yes-or-no choice on each candidate rather than a choice between competitors. Up to half of the National Assembly deputies must come from municipal delegates already elected at the local level.
Courts, Oversight, and Emergency Powers
Cuba’s courts are headed by the Supreme People’s Court, which oversees all lower courts. Judges are constitutionally independent in their decision-making, bound only by the constitution and the laws. The system is still structurally subordinate to the National Assembly, which elects and can remove the President of the Supreme Court and other senior judges. A distinctive feature is the use of lay judges: ordinary citizens who sit alongside professional judges during trials with equal rights and duties in the courtroom.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution
Two constitutional offices provide oversight. The Comptroller General’s Office monitors the administration of public funds and administrative management across the state, operating with functional independence but subordinate to the President of the Republic.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution The Attorney General’s Office ensures compliance with the constitution and laws by state agencies, economic entities, social organizations, and citizens. Both officials are elected by the National Assembly.
A National Defense Council is designated as the superior state organ for organizing and directing the country’s defense. During peacetime it oversees planning, but during a declared state of war, general mobilization, or state of emergency, the Defense Council assumes the functions of most other state organs, with the sole exception of the power to amend the constitution.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution The President presides over the Defense Council and personally designates its Vice President and other members. During a crisis, in other words, Cuba’s already centralized system becomes substantially more so.
The Mass Organizations Layer
Cuba’s mass organizations occupy a space with no real equivalent in multi-party systems. They are not government agencies, but the constitution grants them formal roles in legislation and elections that make them part of how the state functions. The principal ones are the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Cuban Workers’ Federation, the Federation of Cuban Women, and the National Association of Small Farmers. Nearly every Cuban belongs to at least one.
These organizations have the constitutional right to initiate legislation before the National Assembly.1Constitute. Cuba 2019 Constitution They also compose the Candidacy Commissions that select candidates for provincial and national elections, giving them substantial influence over who reaches the upper levels of government.3CUBADIPLOMATICA. How Do Elections Work in Cuba? At the local level they organize public debates on proposed policies, help implement new laws, and evaluate how those laws are working in practice. They are the main channel through which ordinary Cubans take part in political life outside of direct elections, and their formal position inside the state is a defining feature of how the whole system works.