North's leader Kim Jong-un gets his ballots at a polling station in South Hamgyong Province, Nov. 27. Yonhap

North Korea said Tuesday there were votes against candidates for deputies to local assemblies in the latest local elections, marking the first time in decades that the repressive regime has reported opposing votes in its elections.

A total of 27,858 workers, peasants, intellectuals and officials were elected new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties in the local elections Sunday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The voter turnout was recorded at 99.63 percent.

Among voters who cast ballots, 99.91 percent voted for the candidates for deputies to provincial people's assemblies and 0.09 percent voted against them, the KCNA said. In terms of deputies to city and county people's assemblies, 99.87 percent voted for selected candidates and 0.13 percent voted against them.

North Korea's state media carried a report of opposing votes in local elections for the first time since the 1960s, according to Seoul's unification ministry. In the 1950s, there were reports of approval rates staying below 100 percent in two local elections.

Elections in the North are widely viewed as a formality, as the candidates are hand-picked by the North's ruling Workers' Party and rubber-stamped into office.

In the elections to pick deputies to local assemblies in July 2019, the voter turnout was 99.98 percent and 100 percent voted for the candidates. In March of that year, North Korea reported 99.99 percent voter turnout and 100 percent approval in the elections to select deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament.

North Korea's rare revelation of opposing votes in the latest local elections may be intended to show that it democratically held the election following the revision of the election law.

North Koreans stand in line to vote new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties. Nov. 27. Yonhap

For Sunday's voting, Pyongyang allowed two candidates to be recommended in some constituencies and held a preliminary election to decide on a final single candidate.

The unification ministry said the North's report of opposing votes does not mean that the country guarantees people's political rights.

"The move appears to be intended to show that people in North Korea adequately expressed their opinions in elections, but this is still far from the guarantee of people's suffrage," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

At polling stations, North Korea set up two separate ballot boxes of different colors -- one for approval and the other for disapproval -- a move that hampers the principle of secret voting as it is easy to see whether people vote for or against, the ministry said.

In regard to a fall in voter turnout compared with four years earlier, the official said North Korea may have manipulated it in order to give an impression that the latest elections were free elections.

The Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-run think tank, said in a report Monday that the lower voter turnout could indicate North Korea's control over its people may have weakened, as the number of citizens who are elusive from state supervision probably rose. (Yonhap)

（作者：新闻中心）