North Korea has a unicameral Supreme People's Assembly at national level. Its members formally serve five-year terms. Local People's Assemblies operate at provincial and centrally administered municipal level, city or district level, and county level, with formal four-year terms. The Workers' Party of Korea controls the SPA and local legislative bodies, so the elections primarily provide political selection, public confirmation and state legitimacy rather than a competitive contest between parties seeking to form a government. Citizens can formally vote and stand as candidates from age 17, regardless of sex, occupation, length of residence, property, education, party membership, political views or religion. Members of the armed forces are included. A court-ordered loss of political rights or legally confirmed mental illness can exclude a person. Voter lists exist, but individual registration, objections to the lists and independent election observation cannot be publicly verified. The SPA Standing Committee sets the national election date. For local elections, the relevant Local People's Committee sets the date before the existing mandate ends. The 2023 local election reform allowed up to two recommended candidates in some constituencies and used a preliminary vote to select one final candidate. This did not establish open competition between independent parties. The Workers' Party of Korea retains decisive political control over candidate selection and the wider process. Voting is formally secret, and mobile ballot boxes serve older or ill voters. Koreans from abroad who are inside North Korea may participate if they wish. In practice, monitoring and fear of punishment can affect participation and the expression of disagreement. Separate coloured boxes for yes and no votes, documented during the 2023 local elections, can make secrecy difficult even where the ballot is formally secret. Constituency committees count the ballots and transmit the results. The Central Election Committee publishes the official results and candidate list. For the 15 March 2026 SPA election, the state reported 99.99% participation, 99.93% approval, 0.07% opposing votes, 0.0037% of eligible citizens absent because they were abroad or at sea, and 0.00003% abstention. These figures come from official statements and have not been independently verified. The election was held two years later than expected, and all 687 SPA seats were renewed. The first session of the new SPA met on 22 March 2026. Jo Yong Won became chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, and Kim Jong Un was re-elected chairman of the State Affairs Commission. The SPA can elect or appoint central state bodies and adopt laws and the state budget, but the election did not produce a change of governing power. The IPU projects 31 March 2031 as the next national election date; that projection is not a confirmed election announcement. No election fee is documented, and there is no reliable evidence of an external postal or overseas voting system.
Elections in North Korea
Elections in North Korea formally select representatives to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), the country's highest state-power body, and to local People's Assemblies. The system provides universal, equal, direct suffrage and secret ballots in its constitutional framework, but the Workers' Party of Korea controls the political process and does not face realistic opposition or government alternation. The 15 March 2026 SPA election renewed all 687 seats after a two-year delay.
Tip
Treat elections in North Korea as a formal participation process with limited practical political choice. If you may vote, separate your formal rights from the personal risks created by monitoring, weak ballot secrecy and the absence of realistic opposition. Do not interpret turnout or approval figures alone as proof of free political selection.