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 North Korea portal |
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Elections in North Korea are held every four-to-five years for the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), the country's national legislature, and every four years for Local People's Assemblies.[1][2] Each candidate is preselected by the North Korean government and there is no option to write in a different name, meaning that voters may either submit the ballot unaltered as a "yes" vote or request a pen to cross out the name on the ballot. Critics argue that North Korean elections are show elections which lack competition and allow the government to claim a veneer of pseudo-democratic legitimacy.[3] A person's vote is not secret, and those who cross off the name on a ballot are often subject to legal and professional consequences. According to official reports, turnout is near 100%.[1]
All seats are won by candidates approved in advance by the ruling party, with the vast majority of approved candidates coming from the ruling party itself.[4][failed verification] In 2010, the founding and ruling Workers' Party of Korea held 87.5% of the seats, with 7.4% for the Korean Social Democratic Party, 3.2% for the Chondoist Chongu Party, and 1.9% for independent deputies.[5]
- ^ a b "DPRK Holds Election of Local and National Assemblies". People's Korea. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- ^ "The Parliamentary System of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (PDF). Constitutional and Parliamentary Information. Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP) of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
- ^ "North Korea election turnout 99.99 percent: State media". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ Moon, Angela; Sugita Katyal; Ralph Boulton (8 March 2009). "N.Korea vote may point to Kim successor". Reuters. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ "The Parliamentary System of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (PDF). Constitutional and Parliamentary Information. Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP) of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2010.