First vote against in 67 years

For the first time in 67 years, a negative vote was cast in North Korea’s local elections. According to information from Yonhap, based on the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), 27,858 North Korean citizens were nominated as candidates in local elections held in provinces and districts.

It was reported in the news that participation in the elections was 99.63 percent, and that in the system where approval or rejection votes are used for the designated candidate, 99.91 percent of the voters voted for yes and 0.09 for percent voted no to the candidates of the provincial popular council.

It was reported that 99.87 percent of voters voted in favor and 0.13 percent voted against the candidates for public district and city councils.

It was noted that for the first time since 1956 there was a vote against in the country’s local elections.
“This measure appears to have been taken by North Korea to show that they allow people to express their views in elections, but this does not guarantee that people have the right to vote,” said an official at the Korean Unification Ministry. South who did not want to be named. he said. (AA)