State media hyped North Korea’s upcoming parliamentary elections as a demonstration of “the most popular and democratic electoral system” in the world, even as it sought to reframe the lack of actual competition as a virtue rather than a flaw.

Coverage of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) elections set for Sunday urged citizens to vote for loyal party representatives who will carry out the decisions of the recent Ninth Party Congress. Voting is compulsory and citizens only have the option to approve or reject a pre-selected candidate.

Preparations for the election took place