Imagine walking into a voting booth where your only choice is to vote "yes" or face severe consequences. Welcome to elections in North Korea, where democracy takes on a whole new meaning.

Every five years, North Korean citizens are required to vote for the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's highest legislative body. But here's the twist: each ballot contains exactly one pre-approved candidate. No opponents. No write-ins. Just one name that was hand-picked by the government's Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea.

The World's Most Predictable Elections

The voting process is technically simple. You receive your ballot, step into a booth, and either drop it in the box unmarked (a "yes" vote) or request a pen to cross out the candidate's name (a "no" vote). In practice, asking for that pen is political suicide.

Why? Because your vote isn't anonymous. Election officials monitor who requests pens, and voting against the official candidate is considered an act of treason. Those brave or foolish enough to vote "no" face losing their jobs, housing, and freedom, plus a lifetime of extra surveillance.

The results are always spectacular. In the 2019 election, North Korea reported a 99.99% voter turnout with 100% voting in favor of the registered candidates. The 0.01% who didn't vote were likely abroad or deceased.

So Why Even Bother?

These "show elections" serve several purposes for the regime:

They provide a veneer of democratic legitimacy to the outside world
They function as a population census, tracking who's where
They demonstrate citizen loyalty through mandatory participation
They identify potential dissenters through the voting process

Think of it less as an election and more as a mandatory loyalty demonstration where the entire population publicly affirms their support for the government's chosen representatives.

A Glimmer of Change?

In 2023, North Korea amended its election law to introduce something novel: a preliminary round with multiple candidates in some constituencies. Before you get excited, here's the catch—only one candidate advances to the final ballot.

The reform also changed the voting method from crossing out names to using separate colored ballot boxes for "yes" and "no" votes. It's unclear if this makes voting "no" any less terrifying when everyone can see which box you approach.

These elections happen like clockwork every five years, most recently in 2019, with the next scheduled for 2024. Between election cycles, the Supreme People's Assembly meets just once or twice a year for a few days to rubber-stamp decisions already made by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

It's a system that redefines what "election" means—proving that sometimes having the right to vote means absolutely nothing if you don't have the right to choose.

Related Tags