Even if there's only 1 candidate, the people will still get to vote!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>All eyes on Kim's youngest son as N. Koreans go to polls
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
People singing and dancing at a poll station in Pyongyang. Only one candidate runs in each constituency, and any vote against him is regarded as an act of rebellion. -- PHOTO: XINHUA
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SEOUL: North Koreans voted yesterday to elect legislators to the country's rubber-stamp Parliament - a poll outside observers are watching closely for hints leader Kim Jong Il may be grooming a successor.
The election is the first since Mr Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last August. Polls scheduled for last year were postponed as he disappeared from the public eye, sparking concerns that the authoritarian leader's sudden death could trigger instability in the impoverished nation.
Mr Kim, however, appears to have recovered, South Korean officials say.
Still, this year's election is being watched closely for any sign that he is preparing to name a successor.
It was not immediately clear if his youngest son ran for a seat in yesterday's polls, as reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency. South Korean media quoted sources as saying he was being groomed to inherit power from his father.
Swiss-educated Jong Un is thought to be about 26. Kim's oldest son, Jong Nam, mostly lives abroad and is seen as out of touch, while the second son is believed to lack the ambition, intelligence and ruthlessness of Jong Un, sources have said.
The polls come as the isolated North faces off against the United States and other regional powers over its refusal to abide by a 2007 nuclear disarmament pact.
The country is also pushing preparations to launch what it says is a satellite, but what many fear will actually be a long-range missile.
Pyongyang is also warning the South and the US not to hold upcoming joint military drills it claims are a precursor to an attack on the North. It has threatened South Korean passenger jets flying near its airspace if the exercises go ahead today. Several airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, have rerouted flights to avoid North Korean airspace.
Results of yesterday's vote are expected to be announced today.
Officially, the vote is secret. If a voter opposes the one candidate listed, however, he must go to a special booth to cross out the name before placing it in a ballot box - an act of rebellion defectors say no North Korean would dare commit.
Only one candidate runs in each constituency. The North's Korean Central News Agency said more than 90 per cent of eligible North Koreans cast their ballots yesterday.
Parliament has 687 deputies, including Mr Kim, who has led the country since his father's death in 1994 and is running for his third five-year term.
Experts predict he will fill the new Parliament with finance-savvy figures and close associates to help revive the country's shattered economy and further consolidate his military and political base.
'Kim Jong Il will turn 72 when the next election comes and, given his ageing, it is likely that an idea about a post-Kim era will be reflected in the elections this time,' said Professor Kim Yong Hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul. ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>All eyes on Kim's youngest son as N. Koreans go to polls
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
People singing and dancing at a poll station in Pyongyang. Only one candidate runs in each constituency, and any vote against him is regarded as an act of rebellion. -- PHOTO: XINHUA
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SEOUL: North Koreans voted yesterday to elect legislators to the country's rubber-stamp Parliament - a poll outside observers are watching closely for hints leader Kim Jong Il may be grooming a successor.
The election is the first since Mr Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last August. Polls scheduled for last year were postponed as he disappeared from the public eye, sparking concerns that the authoritarian leader's sudden death could trigger instability in the impoverished nation.
Mr Kim, however, appears to have recovered, South Korean officials say.
Still, this year's election is being watched closely for any sign that he is preparing to name a successor.
It was not immediately clear if his youngest son ran for a seat in yesterday's polls, as reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency. South Korean media quoted sources as saying he was being groomed to inherit power from his father.
Swiss-educated Jong Un is thought to be about 26. Kim's oldest son, Jong Nam, mostly lives abroad and is seen as out of touch, while the second son is believed to lack the ambition, intelligence and ruthlessness of Jong Un, sources have said.
The polls come as the isolated North faces off against the United States and other regional powers over its refusal to abide by a 2007 nuclear disarmament pact.
The country is also pushing preparations to launch what it says is a satellite, but what many fear will actually be a long-range missile.
Pyongyang is also warning the South and the US not to hold upcoming joint military drills it claims are a precursor to an attack on the North. It has threatened South Korean passenger jets flying near its airspace if the exercises go ahead today. Several airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, have rerouted flights to avoid North Korean airspace.
Results of yesterday's vote are expected to be announced today.
Officially, the vote is secret. If a voter opposes the one candidate listed, however, he must go to a special booth to cross out the name before placing it in a ballot box - an act of rebellion defectors say no North Korean would dare commit.
Only one candidate runs in each constituency. The North's Korean Central News Agency said more than 90 per cent of eligible North Koreans cast their ballots yesterday.
Parliament has 687 deputies, including Mr Kim, who has led the country since his father's death in 1994 and is running for his third five-year term.
Experts predict he will fill the new Parliament with finance-savvy figures and close associates to help revive the country's shattered economy and further consolidate his military and political base.
'Kim Jong Il will turn 72 when the next election comes and, given his ageing, it is likely that an idea about a post-Kim era will be reflected in the elections this time,' said Professor Kim Yong Hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul. ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
