A North Korean official criticized local election officials for allowing elderly voters to use a mobile voting booth at their place of residence during the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) elections on March 10.
Following the election, related criticism sessions were conducted by inminban (neighborhood watch) units, enterprises and local party committees. Such sessions are generally held to evaluate whether residents participate in the elections with a high level of political consciousness and to hand down judgement on acts that exemplify loyalty and those that fail to do so.
“A local party committee secretary in Huchang County severely criticized Election Management Committee officials for having four people over 70 years old vote in ‘mobile voting booths,’” a source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK.
According to the source, the four elderly voters were all in their 70s and 80s and would have had to travel a distance of around four kilometers from the outskirts of Huchang County to the election site.
The local election management committee decided to allow these elderly voters to participate in the election through the use of a mobile election box due to the difficulties they faced in moving around. They cast their votes on election day near their places of residence. Their local inminban director had also requested that the elderly voters be given special consideration given that they had loyally participated in party projects until their retirement.
The area’s local party secretary, however, severely criticized the election officials for the decision. He argued that the elderly voters did not display enough loyalty toward the state and could have reached the election site if they left their houses early in the morning.
“The secretary criticized the election official and inminban director in question, saying that excessive use of ‘mobile voting’ would make it seem that the area lacked loyalty,” said a separate source in Ryanggang Provice.
Most of the locals that attended the criticism session found the party secretary’s criticism ridiculous, she reported.
“They asked how elderly people, who barely get enough food and lead difficult lives, could be expected to walk four kilometers. They also suggested that the secretary was just criticizing those below him to avoid taking responsibility,” the source said. Some locals said that the party secretary was unfit for his position because he was trying to look good to his own superiors.
The Ministry of State Security (MSS) and other security agencies conducted an investigation into local residents before the elections took place in the area, but did not, to his knowledge, criticize the use of mobile voting for elderly people, the source said.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on election day that the elderly and those with physical ailments who could not reach election sites were voting using mobile booths.
