Municipal assembly delegates are nominated by neighbors and do not have to belong to the Communist Party, although the path to the National Assembly and ultimately to the presidency is controlled by the party.

The electoral notice coincides with a period of uncertainty for Cuba. 

The group that has ruled the country since the 1959 revolution is dying out and Cuba's main political and trade ally Venezuela is in crisis. For the past decade, Venezuelan oil subsidies have been crucial to Cuba's economy. [...]

Castro's first vice president, the 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, is widely tipped to assume Castro's mantle, but there is also talk of a radical break with the older generation and an embrace of the market reforms that have been a feature of Castro's nine-year rule.