The position of mayor being added to that of president of a municipal assembly;
The creation of a required ratification of Presidential-appointed Provincial Governors and Deputy Governors by local municipal governments;
The creation of new Provincial Councils made up of members chosen by municipalities to replace the current system of provincial assemblies modeled after the National Assembly of People's Power;
The introduction of a mandatory maximum age limit of 60 years for any President of Cuba entering their first term;
The creation of a two consecutive five-year term limit for the presidency;
The new Constitution came into force after being proclaimed by the National Assembly on 10 April 2019. Laws which were passed to enforce the Constitution's reforms to the country's judicial system must be enacted within 18 months. An electoral law detailing the restructuring of government must also be passed within six months. A Cuban President must then be elected by the National Assembly in the following three months and then appoint Provincial Governors and a Prime Minister.
Same-sex marriage
The new constitution also removes the requirement that marriage be "between one man and one woman". An earlier draft of the new constitution would have changed the language to "a union between two people"... "with absolutely equal responsibilities". This language was removed due to backlash from the more conservative sectors of Cuban society, with the new constitution not specifically recognizing same-sex marriage, but still removing the constitutional obstacles to its recognition by specifically avoiding to define marriage. Mariela Castro, a Cuban LGBT rights activist, daughter of Raúl Castro and director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, has stated that this change is "not a setback" and that the issue would be addressed in the upcoming family code amendment. It is expected that same-sex marriage will be part of a new Cuban Family Code, which is due to be put to a new referendum within the next two years.
