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North Korea announces elections for March

Other News Materials 8 January 2014 10:21 (UTC +04:00)
North Korea will hold elections for its Supreme People's Assembly on March 9
North Korea announces elections for March

North Korea will hold elections for its Supreme People's Assembly on March 9, the state news agency reported Wednesday.

The elections will be the first under leader Kim Jong Un, and are expected to consolidate his hold on power after a recent purge of "anti-party" forces, including the execution of his uncle, dpa reported.

Deputies in the North's rubber-stamp legislature have five-year terms, and the last elections were in March 2009.

The polls are uncontested, with only officially approved candidates reportedly able to run for each seat.

The official Korean Central News Agency did not say whether Kim himself would run for a seat in parliament, as his father Kim Jong Il did when he was leader.

The chamber is nominally the highest organ of state, but meets twice a year and only for a few days, mostly to ratify decisions already taken by the ruling party.

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