CUBAN President Miguel Diaz-Canel was elected for a second five-year term on Wednesday.

The vote of confidence in Mr Diaz-Canel came during the opening session of the new National Assembly of People’s Power at Havana’s Palace of Conventions.

National Electoral Council president Alina Balseiro said that 97.66 per cent of the 462 deputies voted for Mr Diaz-Canel’s re-election.

Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa was also re-elected as vice-president of the Republic with 93.4 per cent of the votes. 

Mr Diaz-Canel, an electronic engineer and master in business administration, has been a member of the Communist Party of Cuba political bureau since 2003. 

He was minister of higher education, vice-president of the council of ministers and first vice-president of the council of state before being elected as president in 2019. 

Speaking to the national assembly, Mr Diaz-Canel said: “The government must focus on increasing the national production of food and the flow of hard currencies to the country as well as on improving the performance of the state-operated socialist enterprises.”

He said that fighting inflation and promoting foreign investment are paramount priorities for the Cuban economy.

According to the constitution of the Republic of Cuba, agreed in 2019, the president can hold office for up to two consecutive terms, after which he cannot hold office again.

Cuban lawmakers also re-elected Salvador Valdes as the vice-president of the Caribbean nation and Esteban Lazo as the president of the national assembly.

The national assembly also agreed to the proposal by Mr Diaz-Canel to reappoint Manuel Marrero as the country’s prime minister.

President Diaz-Canel said Mr Marrero “has developed a style of work marked by interaction with the people and attention to social policies, including work in the neighbourhoods.”

The national assembly was elected in March and will hold office for the next five years.