1985 North Korean Parliamentary Elections

Parliamentary elections were held in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 2 November 1986 to elect 655 members of the state-controlled Supreme People's Assembly. These were the first elections where the popular voted was considered, open but failed primaries for state candidates and the further reform of the electoral system. It was also the first election where an open Dengist ran for leader and any member of the Kim dynasty did not participate.

Background
In the early 1980s, the state economy began to fade due to mismanagement, bad governance and increased foreign debt, reaching 850 million. If this negative trend continued, the nation would have ran out of reserves and negative growth would have risen. Amid tensions with the Soviet Union and the alignment with the People's Republic of China, foreign aid to the nation was reduced thus registering a poor industrial output. In 1982, incumbent President Kim Il Sung was rushed to the Central Pyongyang Hospital multiple times as he had a series of mini-strokes; as he was incapacitated from office, Prime Minister Kang Song San de-facto took the lead, with the protest of Kim Il Sung, the heir apparent of the father. The period of continued health treatment resumed and ended on 7 March 1985, when Kim Il Sung died from complications regarding diabetes and other neurological conditions which were worsening, day by day. Kang Song San emerged as the Chairman of the Funeral Commission, and was tasked to also prepare a speech. Usually, in the Soviet Union, the Chairmen were also designated to become the next state leaders. On 10 June 1985, the party leadership convened and organized the 7th National Congress of the Workers Party of Korea; international observers expected Kim Jong Il to take the lead, however Kang Song San was elected General Secretary unanimously following his presentation of the Thesis for the Implementation of a Socialist Market Economy, which was largely based on his trips to China during Deng Xiaoping secretariat.

Based on the Doi Moi reforms in Vietnam and the implementation of the Socialism with Chinese Charatcheristics in China, Song decided, with his advisors, to create the "Directives for the Creation of the Korean Socialism" which would be distinct from classic Marxism-Leninism and by state handling. He announced that the North Korean economy would follow the Chinese and Vietnamese examples while preserving socialist rule in the DPRK. The Central Committee agreed, however Kim Jong Il was not pleased by these provisions, and attempted to organize a military coup. However, his luxurious house in Pyongyang was raided by agents of the State Security Department and he was sent to a re-education camp, to be then executed on 1 May 1991 for high treason.

Aftermath
Citizens were allowed to cast their vote for only one candidate which was approved by the State Audition Commission, a body that processed all candidacies and the first experimental primary elections so that citizens could choose the most fit person to lead the constituency, and, in that case, the community.