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North Korea to hold parliamentary elections

PYONGYANG, March 09. /ITAR-TASS/. North Korea will hold elections in the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly, a unicameral parliament of the country, on Sunday. Representatives of party committees, election committees at industrial enterprises and in rural co-operatives informed people in advance about significance of this event. Slogan saying “Let’s hold the elections with political enthusiasm and perfect working achievements!” is heard on the radio and TV channels.

This will be the first elections in the Supreme People’s Assembly after Kim Jong Un began to rule the country in December 2011. The North Korean leader was officially registered as a candidate in parliament at the 111th election constituency in Pyongyang, where most voters are servicemen. Foreign journalists accredited in North Korea, including representatives of news agencies Itar-Tass, Xinhua and Chinese Central Television, were invited to cover the elections.

The North Korean supreme legislature consists of 687 lawmakers. Deputies usually assemble in the country’s capital once a year to approve the country’s budget and a package of most important bills at a one-day meeting. The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly is vested with legislative power in an interval between parliamentary sessions.

On February 21, the Democratic Front for the Unification of the Fatherland urged local citizens “to unite tighter around great comrade Kim Jong Un, the sun of the nation, and to work diligently for the sake of establishing a prosperous socialistic country.” This slogan was voiced at a meeting of the front’s Central Committee in Pyongyang. The front includes the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party (an approximate translation into English could be "Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way").

It was stated at the meeting that nomination of Kim’s candidacy for deputies of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly “reflects absolute support, trust and high level of loyalty to the leader by the country’s army and people.

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