Polls in N Korea to elect new deputies for local assemblies

Hundreds of people across North Korea are voting on Sunday to choose new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, counties and cities in the country, in an election widely viewed as a formality in the totalitarian state.

Elections are held every four years and the number of seats is determined by the population of each area. The candidates, who are hand-picked by North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, are elected to power in what are widely believed to be rubber-stamp polls, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

According to North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), about 72.07 per cent of voters have cast their ballots till 12 pm (local time).

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also expected to cast his vote later in the day.

The local assemblies of North Korea meet either once or twice in a year to decide on their budgets and other regional matters. They also choose the heads of each province, city and county, respectively.

The voter turnout in the previous elections in 2015 was 99.9 per cent, with 100 per cent voting for the party's candidates.

In March, North Korea held parliamentary elections and elected 687 representatives to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature.