ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on pre-electoral arrangements with the aim of trying to identify some legal requirements for a process of political democratization in Cuba to start. The present Cuban constitution was enforced in February 1976, shortly after the holding of the first Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, in the period of maximum Soviet influence on the island. The Republic of Cuba is a parliamentary regime, in which the Assembly elects the President of the Council of the State, who is at the same time Chief of the State and Chief of the Government. In order to forecast possible Cuban developments, it is interesting to note that in many cases of transitions in Eastern Europe, the communists starting from a similar parliamentary-regime formula attempted to introduce a separate presidential election. The chapter explores the forecasting institutional changes in Cuba after Fidel Castro's death.
