North Korean polls see 99.97 per cent participation

Local elections in North Korea saw a massive 99.97 per cent voter participation rate on Sunday, state media reported.

The state-controlled polls were held to elect new representatives put forward by the ruling party for assemblies at provincial, city and county levels. “All participants took part in the elections with extraordinary enthusiasm to cement the revolutionary power through the elections of deputies to the local people’s assemblies,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said. Only those who were out of the country were unable to vote, KCNA said, with the elderly and ill casting their votes into “mobile ballot boxes”.

Typically, 99 per cent of North Korean voters in the de facto single-party state take part in elections and 99 percent of them cast “yes” votes for uncontested candidates.