Havana, September 13 (RHC)-- Cuba's National Electoral Commission issued a communique announcing that neighborhood meetings to nominate candidates to People’s Power bodies will resume gradually across the country, as soon as conditions in each territory allow for it.

The nomination process, an important step of the Cuban electoral process, was originally scheduled from September 4th through the 30th, but the meetings were halted in the wake of Hurricane Irma and the damage it caused to 13 out of Cuba's 15 provinces.

The Electoral Commission and Civil Defense Councils in the majority of provinces and municipalities are currently assessing the situation in each territory. In reorganizing the meetings, the lack of electric fluid, water, damage to homes and facilities, disruption to services, as well as changes imposed on the daily life of the population, among other causes, are being considered.

The Commission stressed that the quality of the electoral process must be guaranteed, with total adherence to the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba and Electoral Law No. 72, bearing in mind that nomination assemblies represent an important opportunity for voters, in the full exercise of their rights, to openly and directly nominate candidates based on their merits, abilities and commitment to the people.

The most important thing, the Commission said, is to hold an electoral process, which meets the people's expectations and constitutes an expression of Cuba’s democratic system.