Iraq - Saddam Wins 100 Percent in Referendum with 100 Percent Turnout - 11,454,638 say yes, 0 say no

Reuters and AFP | October 16, 2002

[HAL9000]

What happened to the 3,052 people who voted 'no' in 1995?

[hoosierskypilot]

NO! You've got to be kidding ? That Saddam! What a popular guy!

[Bobby777]

boy that was a close one!!! ... how many votes did Janet Reno get BTW?

[polemikos]

Well, I was concerned that he might have a repeat problem with the 0.06% of swing voters. Seems he reached them somehow. Now that he's literally 100% legit, I wonder which whack job will be the first to use this vote to bash the U.S.?

[HAL9000]

BBC News-

Wednesday, 16 October, 2002, 06:55 GMT 07:55 UK

Saddam 'wins 100% of vote'

Iraqi officials say President Saddam Hussein has won 100% of the vote in a referendum on whether he should rule for another seven years.

There were 11,445,638 eligible voters - and everyone of them voted for the president, according to Izzat Ibrahim, Vice-Chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council.

Saddam Hussein was the only candidate.

Voters had been urged to show their support for the Iraqi leader in defiance of the demands for military action against him from the US and Britain.

During polling, many voters trampled American flags and some signed their ballot-papers in their own blood in a display of loyalty to their leader.

Before the vote, Washington dismissed the referendum as a farce after the last such vote gave the Iraqi leader 99.96 % of the vote.

"Obviously it's not a very serious day, not a very serious vote and nobody places any credibility on it," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Tuesday.

In London, the Foreign Office painted a stark picture of the "choice" facing the Iraqi voters:

"You can't have free elections when the electorate goes to the polls in the knowledge that they have only one candidate, that candidate routinely murders and tortures opponents of the regime and the penalty for slandering that sole candidate is to have one's tongue cut out."

Undeterred

Tuesday's 12-hour-long voting was technically a secret ballot but few people bothered with the curtained booths - if only because they feared a "no" vote could be traced back to them.

Polling stations were bedecked with posters of Saddam and biscuits and drinks were served as children put on shows of patriotic songs.

The BBC's Caroline Hawley, reporting from Baghdad, notes that despite the festive air during polling, the Iraqi regime is well aware that the Americans are determined not to allow Saddam to serve the new term he is assured.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell met British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the continuing wrangle over a new United Nations resolution on Iraq's alleged remaining weapons of mass destruction.

Washington has threatened to take unilateral action against Saddam if the UN fails to find a solution.

The two ministers said that the weekend car bomb attack in Bali, Indonesia, would not distract them from their campaign against Iraq.

[Sunnyvale CA Eng.]

This just in - 1000's of absentee votes from Iraqis living abroad in Florida were found to have voted for Pat Buchanan.

[Norman Arbuthnot]

Now that he's literally 100% legit, I wonder which whack job will be the first to use this vote to bash the U.S.?

Probably Phil Donahue or Jim McDermott.

[PaulJ]

In Iraq, a hanging chad is someone who votes "No" for Saddam.

[PaulJ]

In Iraq, a hanging chad is someone who votes "No" for Saddam.

[river rat]

If 100% of the people of Iraq support the lying murderous Saddam....does that mean we are relieved of feeling guilty if millions of "innocent" Iraqi citizens are killed in the next few months.?

Semper Fi

[blondee123]

Bet it makes him feel really important to have defeated NO ONE!! ROFL!

[TomB]

Watching Imus this morning he talked with the NBC correspondent in Baghdad about the "election". After joking about the obvious setup the guy made an interesting observation, he said that he had been in many countries where there were anti-American demonstrations, and the anger was deeply felt. But he said in Baghdad, he didn't get that feeling. I missed his one comment, but it sounded like he had even signed some autographs!

Doesn't sound good for Saddam.

[Cabbages and Kings]

Well there you are, you see. We were wrong all the time! imperative that we go back to the drawing boards and re-evaluate our entire Mid-East policy. Lift the sanctions, strengthen our ties with the French, apologise for existing, come home and all will be well! simple, eh?

[Guillermo]

Well, that settles it.

The Iraqi people love Saddam, and don't want regime change.

America was wrong once again.

[goldstategop]

Iraq is such a "democracy" that every one is FOR the President For Life. Why, even in the Soviet Union, no one got 100% of the vote. Saddam has just established a new landslide record!!!

[Sabertooth]

Democrats take note: this is how you stage a rigged election.

[PGalt]

Why not even Jimmy "the peacemaker" Carter needed to monitor that "free-election". He could have had assistance from Bonoir and McDermott. The Democrats are working on getting those types of returns, not just in the inner cities.

[Catspaw]

You forgot Scott Ritter. And Louis Farrakhan.

[WileyC]

Saddam has just established a new landslide record!!!

And during the next election he vows to do even better!

[MeekOneGOP]

Oh, rats !! You beat me to it. I was gonna post this with the subtitle referencing "Landslide Victory for SADdam", lol !!

We can nickname him "Landslide Joe" after his hero !!