Everbody voted, everyone said yes to NK leader: state media claims

Everbody voted, everyone said yes to NK leader: state media claims
Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:52:50

North Korean state TV claims country’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un has won every ballot cast by voters in his district during the first elections of the Supreme People's Assembly legislature under Un's rule, while ‘everyone’ took part.

According to state media, Un's district recorded 100 percent turnout during Sunday's elections, without a single dissenting ballot.

"This is an expression of all the service personnel and people's absolute support and profound trust in supreme leader Kim Jong Un as they single-mindedly remain loyal to him,'' the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, according to an Associated Press news agency report.

Un is now an MP, adding a new title to several others he holds for himself including Supreme Commander of the armed forces and chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission.

Participation in the vote is obligatory. Mobile ballot boxes have been created to cater to those who were ill and could not travel to balloting stations, the KCNA had reported.

A number of poems were produced to celebrate voting under titles including "The Billows of Emotion and Happiness" and "We Go to Polling Station".

In the assembly election, voters get to approve 687 deputies, but they don't get to choose who represents them in the rubber-stamp legislature. Voters could only say either yes or no to a single candidate running in each district.

"If you vote no, you need to - very publicly - enter a separate booth, and that is a something very few here are willing to risk," according to Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker said.

The last elections were held in 2009 under the late leader Kim Jong Il. He received 100 percent of the votes and turnout was reported to be 99.98%, she said.

Analysts will be closely watching to see if the deputies this time around reflect a generational change as Kim looks to solidify his power and replace older cadres with younger, more loyal ones.

The Supreme People's Assembly meets rarely, often only once a year. In practice it has little power and when it is not in session, its work is done by a smaller and more powerful body called the Presidium.

SHI/SHI

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