DPRK Holds Election of Local and National Assemblies

687 Deputies to SPA Elected

General Secretary Kim Jong Il of the Workers' Party of Korea votes for KPA officer Ju Song Chol, a candidate for the election to the 11th SPA, at a polling place in Kim Il Sung Military University on August 3.

�@

An election of deputies to the 11th Supreme People's Assembly was held in the DPRK on August 3. The DPRK also held elections of deputies to provincial (municipal) and city (district) people's assemblies on the same day.

General Secretary Kim Jong Il was elected a deputy to the SPA.

The eligible voters who had registered at constituency No. 649 all went to the polls and 100 percent of them voted for Kim Jong Il, said a report on the results of the election of the SPA.

According to the report by the Central Election Committee on August 4, 99.9 percent of all the eligible voters registered on the poll books went to the polls and 100 percent of the casters voted for the candidates of deputies to the SPA who had registered at all the constituencies.

This is an "expression of all the voters" support for and trust in the DPRK government and a manifestation of our army and people's steadfast will to consolidate the people's power as firm as a rock and accomplish the revolution under the guidance of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Central Election Committee said.

The committee also gave the list of those deputies to the SPA elected after examining the election returns presented by the election committees of 687 constituencies across the country.

A total of 26,650 officials, workers, peasants and intellectuals in total were elected as deputies to provincial (municipal), city (district) and county�fs people�fs assemblies.

A close examination of the list of the newly elected SPA members revealed 340 of the 687 members of the North's 10th-term parliament, or nearly 50 percent of them, were replaced.

Officials of Chongryun (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) were elected to the SPA deputies. Among them were So Man Sul, Chairman of the Central Standing Committee of Chongryun; Ho Jong Man, Chief Vice Chairman of Chongryun; Ryang Su Jong, Vice Chairman of Chongryun and Chairman of the Korean Federation of Workers of Commerce in Japan; Kim So Ja, Vice Chairwoman of Chongryun and Chairman of the Korean Democratic Women�fs Union in Japan; Jang Byong Tae, President of Korea University in Japan, and Pak Hui Dok, Chairman of the Economic Committee of Chongryun.

Citizens who are staying in foreign countries or working in the far-off seas could not participate in the elections.

The elections marked an important occasion for "further consolidating the DPRK government as a revolutionary power based on the Songun policy by revamping local power organs with able officials who are wholeheartedly loyal to Kim Jong Il and have devotedly worked for the party and the leader, the country and the people," the report added.

On June 3, the Presidium of the SPA had announced a decision that it would hold the election. The list of the qualified voters had been made public on July 19.

The Constitution of the DPRK stipulates that the term of a deputy to the SPA is five years, while deputies to the people's assemblies of provinces, cities and districts serve a four-year term, respectively. The constitution also stipulates that these elections should be held in separate years. The last election for the SPA was held in 1998 and the election for local people�fs assemblies was held in 1999. "But this time, we held a double election because the DPRK meets the two significant anniversaries this year, the 50th anniversary of the victory in the Korean War and the 55th anniversary of the founding of the country," said Cho Gum Chol, director of the Department of External Affairs of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

�@

�@

Back Home

Copyright © 2003 The People's Korea. All rights reserved.

�@