The National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) approved on Wednesday the repeal of Law 183, which was enacted in December 2025 and shortened the term of delegates to municipal assemblies to four years.
With this decision, the regime has postponed the delegate elections once again, moving them to 2027, when they will be held alongside the elections for deputies to the National Assembly, according to a report by the official Canal Caribe.
It is the fourth time that the regime has silenced Cuban voters in less than 10 years, coinciding with the designation of Miguel Díaz-Canel as the Cuban leader by the "finger-pointing" of Raúl Castro.
Law 183 was designed to correct a backlog that had accumulated since the pandemic: the Electoral Law of 2019 anticipated a separation of up to one year between municipal and parliamentary elections, but COVID-19 prevented adherence to that schedule in 2020, and elections were held in 2022 and 2023 without that separation.
To remedy this, in December 2025 the Cuban government presented the law that shortened the term of the delegates to four years, expiring in November 2026. That same law was repealed seven months later.
The secretary of the ANPP, José Luis Toledo Santander, justified the reversal with the argument of the crisis: “Today our country is going through a very complex scenario, greatly exacerbated by difficult economic and social situations, which advises against holding elections at this time.”
Similarly, the also Secretary of the State Council called to "focus on the realization of other vital processes for the defense and sustainability of our revolution, in addition to all the resources involved in conducting an electoral process."
The Commission on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the Parliament approved the proposal and stated that "it is not advisable, given the characteristics and conditions that must be guaranteed for the conduct of a process of this nature, to hold the aforementioned elections as originally planned."
It is not the first time that the regime has resorted to this kind of maneuver. In 2017, the delegate elections were postponed due to Hurricane Irma. In 2020, the pandemic disrupted the electoral calendar.
In 2023, the State Council postponed the accountability of the delegates citing the fuel crisis and the energy situation.
Each postponement comes with a different justification, but the pattern is the same: to avoid calling constituency assemblies during times of high social conflict.
The current context makes this conflict particularly evident. The Cuban Conflict Observatory registered 1,311 protests in May 2026 and 107 street protests in June, primarily driven by power outages, water shortages, and widespread scarcity.
During July 2026, the energy crisis has resulted in deficits exceeding 2,000 MW during peak hours, with several units out of service due to lack of fuel, and a series of breakdowns in thermal power plants.
Analysts and independent media indicate that the regime fears that the constituency assemblies —mandatory spaces for direct contact between the more than 12,400 delegates and their voters— will become venues for widespread expression of citizen discontent.
The repeal of Law 183 necessitated an extraordinary session of the ANPP because Law 131 regarding the organization of Parliament prohibits modifying or repealing a legal provision through a simple decree-law.
After the repeal, the term of the municipal delegates is once again governed by Article 187 of the Constitution, which sets it at five years, and the next general elections —for both delegates and deputies— are postponed until 2027.
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