Pyongyang, March 10 (IANS): North Korea held parliamentary elections on Sunday to elect new deputies for the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature.

These elections are held every five years. They will replace those picked in the parliamentary polls held in March 2014, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Voting that started at 6 a.m., is slated to end at 6 p.m.

As of Sunday afternoon, 56.76 per cent of registered voters had cast their ballots, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

KCNA said the candidates include workers, farmers, intellectuals and soldiers. There is only a single candidate registered for each constituency.

The Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, carried an editorial that stressed the election will manifest people's "fixed will to firmly trust and uphold" leader Kim Jong-un.

The official voter turnout was tallied at 99.97 per cent for the last election, with 100 per cent voting for the approved candidates.

The results of the 2014 elections were announced two days after the voting day.