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North Korea rallies voters ahead of next week's parliamentary elections

Published: 10 Mar. 2026, 14:00

A soldier stands at a North Korean military guard post flying a national flag, seen from Paju, Gyeonggi on Feb. 26. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korea on Tuesday urged voter participation ahead of next week's parliamentary elections, the first such polls in seven years, calling them an “important event” to strengthen the national social system.

The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's most widely read newspaper, described the parliamentary elections set for Sunday as an “important starting point” in implementing the new goals adopted at last month's Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea.

“It's an important event aimed at strengthening our most superior people-held sovereignty and further solidifying the national social system by electing genuine representatives of the people according to their will and demands,” the newspaper wrote.

North Korea is set to elect new members of the Supreme People's Assembly on Sunday, following last month's party congress aimed at supporting the implementation of key policies and plans adopted at the congress.

The paper describes the country's election system as giving equal rights to all people as “the owners of the country” and as “most popular and democratic.” However, voting is widely seen as largely a formality in the strictly regulated country.

Typically, only a single candidate runs in each constituency in the country.

While voters are required to place the ballot in the ballot box if they approve of a candidate, they must draw a line through the candidate's name if they oppose, a process that effectively makes the voting nonsecret.

North Korea typically holds parliamentary elections every five years, but the upcoming vote will mark the first since 2019.

Yonhap