Iraq Holds Referendum on Saddam's New Presidency

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Iraq Holds Referendum on Saddam's New Presidency

Iraqis turned out in force on Tuesday to cast ballots in a nationwide referendum on incumbent President Saddam Hussein's another seven-year term.

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Iraqis turned out in force on Tuesday to cast ballots in a nationwide referendum on incumbent President Saddam Hussein's another seven-year term.

More than 11.5 million eligible voters are expected to say "yes" or "no" to Saddam's re-election as Iraq's head of state in nearly 2,000 polling stations across the country, except the three Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq that are outside Baghdad's control.

Polls opened at 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will last for 12 hours to 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT). The results are expected to be announced hours after the closure of polling stations.

The voting has turned out to be a feverish support for Saddam, the sole candidate for the presidency that he has assumed for 23 years.

At the No. 21 polling station in Baghdad's upscale Mansur district, a woman bravely had her thumb pricked with a syringe and devoted her blood to the "yes" vote on her ballot.

A middle-aged man jumped to a huge picture of the Iraq leader near the ballot box and gave out a kiss to the portrait after casting his vote.

The chanting of "Naam, Naam, Saddam," or "Yes, Yes, Saddam," were heard in almost every crowd in Baghdad to express a unanimous choice.

The support for Saddam was typically coupled with a defiance of US President George W. Bush, who is explicitly determined to achieve a "regime change" in Iraq with all the tools at his disposal, including military actions.

"We will defend our country and fight against Bush," a local polling organizer said, pointing to a group of school boys holding huge portraits of Saddam and brandishing toy rifles.

Bush has branded Saddam's regime as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and accused them of pursuing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.

Facing the growing US saber-rattling, Saddam has remained defiant, repeatedly saying that any aggression against his country is doomed to fail, and showing no signs of retreating.

In the 1995 referendum, Saddam secured a 99.96 percent vote and his presidential term was thus renewed for another seven years.

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