North Korea Just Held Another Sham Election

On Sunday, March 10th, North Korea held an election. Their election was basically an excuse for a street carnival because naturally there can only be one party and one “Supreme Leader,” but the country went to the polls nonetheless. And this year North Korean citizens turned out at poling stations in droves to vote for their legislature, which they refer to as the Supreme People’s Assembly.

The results will be released today (North Korean time) although the outcome is already expected. Because last time there was an election in 2014, the vote was 100 percent in favour of the named candidates, which was unsurprising when you consider how North Korean elections work.

The Supreme People’s Assembly has 687 members and meets every few months to enact laws passed down by Chairman Kim Jong-un and the State Affairs Commission, which is the highest body after Kim. In this way, the Assembly essentially has no power beyond saying yes to demands from above. And voters get no say on which Assembly members they can vote for either. They can simply collect their allocated ballot paper which comes with a pre-approved name, and then post their ballot. They also (in theory) have the opportunity to cross out the name listed on the sheet but no one ever does. As voting is not done is secret this is fairly understandable.

All North Korean citizens aged 17 and above are required to vote by law, although 2014’s election only saw voter turnout at 99.7 percent, because as the official KCNA news agency pointed out, some voters were “abroad” or “working in oceans.”

In preparation for Sunday’s election, an official from the Socialist Women’s Union attempted to explain why North Korea enjoys such impossibly high voter turnout, as well as such uniform political agreement. “We regard all the people in our country as one family so we will unite with one mind and we will vote for the agreed candidate,” she said, as reported by the Guardian. “We acknowledge no one but the Supreme Leader.”

On Sunday Pyongyang was in full party mode as bands played music at the poling booths, and children paraded the streets in traditional dress. Really, it would have been all quite nice if it weren’t for the fact there’s no higher court system to question the vote, nor any independent media to impress upon citizens the grave unfairness of it all.