North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has once again achieved an overwhelming victory in the country’s recent parliamentary election, receiving nearly 100% of the votes.
In the recent election for the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly, the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and its allied groups secured 99.93% of the vote. The election was held on March 15, 2026, to select members of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the nation’s highest legislative body.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA):
- All candidates supported by the ruling party won every seat.
- Voter turnout was 99.99% of eligible voters.
- Of those votes, 99.93% were cast in favor of the ruling party’s candidates.
KCNA also noted that approximately 0.0037% of voters were unable to vote because they were working abroad or at sea, and only 0.00003% abstained from voting.
Notably, there were no opposition candidates in this election. Each constituency featured a single government-approved candidate, and voters had the option to either support or reject the candidate. The remaining 0.07% of votes were cast as “no” votes against government-supported candidates. KCNA emphasized that this was the first time in decades the state media publicly acknowledged “no” votes, a phenomenon last reported in 1957.
Under the law, a total of 687 representatives were elected, including workers, farmers, intellectuals, military personnel, and government officials.
Background: Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011 after the death of his father Kim Jong Il. In 2019, a constitutional amendment strengthened his control over the state, government, and military.
