Cuba to elect first president from outside Castro family

Cuba’s legislative elections on Sunday are poised for the first time in six decades to deliver from outside Castro family.

In Cuba, the legislative elections taking place Sunday are like nowhere else in the region. More than eight million Cubans will elect the 605 members of the National Assembly and 1265 delegates to 15 provincial assemblies.

With the new parliament due to convene April 19 to elect a successor to 86-year-old President Raul Castro. The new president is expected to be the first not to belong to the Castro family since the 1959 revolution, after which Raul’s older brother Fidel Castro took power.

Raul Castro took over provisionally when his brother’s health deteriorated in 2006, then officially became president in 2008. Fidel Castro died eight years later at age 90.

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