In November 1946, the elections of provincial, municipal, county People's Committees were held in every part of North Korea. Through these elections, the temporary local authorities became the permanent organs of the government. However, the role of these elections did not end with giving local authorities legitimacy and legality. Indeed, the provincial, municipal, and county Committee members gathered in a congress in February 1947 and composed the People’s Council and the North Korean People's Committee, setting up the North Korean nation-building project. The People’s Committee elections were to make of the North Korean society a Soviet democracy. They enabled the institutionalization of a sociopolitical mobilization system that connected the Workers' Party of North Korea, the North Korean Provisional People's Committee, the National Democratic United Front, the Parties and Social organizations, and the people to each other, thereby strengthening the role of the Workers’ Party as a leader. Albeit election rules prescribed general, direct, equal election and secret vote, only the Parties and social organizations that joined the United Front could recommend candidates. The electorate’s power to choose a candidate who could represent its interests was highly limited. Because the electorate had to vote for or against the United Front candidate by casting ballots in either a white or black ballot box, the secrecy of voting was not guaranteed and opposition was thus fundamentally prevented. (Professor of Department of History, Kyungpook National University, jeonhs@knu.ac.kr)