Saddam Hussein re-elected

October 18, 2002 permalink

The following paragraphs are extracted from a news report in the Times of Oman, October 18, 2002. Saddam Hussein, like the Dufferin Children's Aid Society, uses an election procedure allowing for no opponents on the ballot.

BAGHDAD -- Saddam Hussein, wiping away a tear, was sworn in for seven more years as Iraqi president yesterday and delivered a stinging and defiant rebuke to the `evil tyrant' of the United States.

(paragraphs omitted)

Officially the president won 100 per cent in Tuesday's referendum which saw a 100 per cent turnout, compared with the 99.96 per cent he recorded in 1995.

Saddam, who called the result a `glorious victory over the enemies', received gifts of a mighty sword symbolising strength, which he unsheathed in admiration, and a large pencil for intellectual powers.

The president, who has been in power since 1979, had been greeted at a Baghdad auditorium by poets reading out verse full of lyrical praise, in the recorded TV broadcast.

Outside in the streets gun fire rattled out in celebration of the event.