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CNN and Uday - Best Friends? CNN comments on UDay in 2000.
CNN ^ | 3/28/2000 | CNN

Posted on 04/14/2003 7:36 PM PDT by Toskrin

Hussein's eldest son poised to lead Iraqi parliament March 28, 2000 Web posted at: 5:04 a.m. EST (1004 GMT) From staff and wire reports

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Odai Hussein, appeared Tuesday to have won a seat in parliament, and may end up becoming its speaker, a sign that he's the Iraqi president's heir apparent.

In Iraq's first parliamentary election since 1996, Odai Hussein on Monday secured 99.9 percent in the Baghdad districts, according to the state-run weekly Al-Ittihad.

Before the results could be counted, Odai Hussein, still limping from a 1996 assassination attempt, told reporters what he expected from the newly elected cabinet.

"All that is good for our great people," the young Hussein said, "and all that through which we can serve its brave men and women."

Inaugural set for April The new parliament is scheduled to hold its inaugural session in April and it is widely expected that Odai Hussein will be its speaker, a position viewed in Iraq as almost equal to that of prime minister, a post now held by Saddam Hussein himself.

Odai, a powerful figure who was making his formal political debut, was among 512 candidates running for 220 seats in the election.

Saddam will appoint another 30 representatives for the Kurdish north, where voting was not held. Saddam Hussein effectively lost control over Kurdish areas a decade ago in an uprising following the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

Iraq's 250-seat National Assembly is seen as a rubber stamp for Saddam Hussein, doing little more than making recommendations to the all-powerful Revolutionary Command Council he heads.

Monday's election did not include many characteristics of voting in other nations. There are no secret ballots and no opposition candidates.

Iraq: this election more diverse Iraqi officials said this year's election allowed more diversity than previous contests, when members of the nation's ruling Baath party made up most of the candidates.

"The percentage of the party members participating in this election is only 27 percent," said Humam Abdel Khaliq, Iraq's minister of information, "and 71 percent are independent people."

Odai Hussein, a member of the Baath Party, owns several newspapers and a television station. He also commands a paramilitary force and heads the National Olympic Committee, the Journalists Union and the Youth Federation.

Reporter James Martone and The Associated Press contributed to this report.