Havana, Cuba.- The post of the president of the Republic is one of the proposals in the Draft Constitution of Cuba, which has been discussed by the people for eight days in all 15 provinces of the country.

The document, which was approved by the People’s Power National Assembly on July 22 and on which Cubans will make comments and express their criteria until November 15, establishes in Chapter III that the president is the head of State, a post that he/she can hold for up to two five-year terms.

It also defines that the holder of that post must be a lawmaker in the National Assembly, the body that will elect the president by absolute majority and to which he/she must render accounts.

Likewise, the Draft Constitution establishes that in order to become the president of the Republic, he/she must be 35-60 years of age to hold the post in the first term.

According to people’s criteria during the first week of popular consultation, there is no consensus about the president’s age, as many Cubans oppose limiting the age to 60 years to be elected.

Cuba’s Constitution, in force since 1976, establishes that the president of the Council of State is the head of State and of Government, so the Draft Constitution represents a major change in the State’s structure.

According to the letter of the Draft Constitution, which must be approved or not in a popular referendum after the National Assembly debates the people’s criteria during the consultation, in addition to the president, the posts of the vice president of the Republic and the prime minister, who would be the head of Government, would be created.

Cuba would therefore have a two-headed executive, the doctor in Juridical Sciences, Martha Prieto, vice president of the Cuban Society of Constitutional Law, said in this capital.

The expert noted that the president would take care of the State’s representation, coordination and protocol, with the additional new element established in the Draft Constitution that he/she would not head the Council of State, as happens at present.

In that regard, Council of State Secretary Homero Acosta pointed out that the new Draft Constitution does not imply that Cuba will have ‘a ceremonial president’ like in most countries, including European nations, where the prime minister has more power to rule.

Cuba’s Draft Constitution establishes that the president’s functions include: representing the State and leading its general policy; leading foreign policy, the defense and national security; approving laws and decree laws passed by the National Assembly; and being the supreme chief of armed institutions.

In addition, the president would head the National Defense Council and would propose to the National Assembly or the Council of State, where appropriate, to declare a State of War or war in case of a military aggression; and to decree general mobilization whenever necessary to defend the country.

Other responsibilities would be to promote highest-ranking officers in grade and post; to grant Cuban citizenship; and to propose to the National Assembly or the Council of State the election, appointment, suspension, revocation or substitution of the prime minister, the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general, among other authorities.