IRAQ: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS (2)

Описание: (27 Mar 2000) Arabic/Nat

Counting has begun in Iraqi elections for the country's National Assembly.

The 250-seat Assembly is often seen as nothing more than a rubber stamp parliament for the nation's authoritarian ruler, Saddam Hussein.

Most interest in the strictly controlled campaigned has been centered on the candidacy of Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, in a Baghdad constituency - the first official foray into politics by a man widely seen as Saddam's heir apparent.

Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, voted shortly before polls closed at 1700 gmt on Monday.

He arrived at the polling station amid high security in a convoy of luxury cars.

Uday wore a traditional black robe trimmed in gold and a flowing white headdress, and walked with difficulty as a result of injuries suffered in a 1996 assassination attempt.

He addressed reporters after pulling his ballot from a pocket and dropping it into the box.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic):
"We will do our best for the prosperity of our great people and whatever is possible in the way of serving the brave men of Iraq and help the loyal and glorious Iraqi Women and we ask God to help us."
SUPERCAPTION: Uday Saddam Hussein, Parliamentary Candidate

Uday also said that he would work to bring Iraq the multiparty system his father promised a decade ago. but he did not elaborate.

Uday is widely seen as Saddam's heir apparent.

He is expected to win an assembly seat, which will help him begin to build a formal power base.

Uday, a Baath Party member, 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.

Uday is a controversial figure.

In a 1994 book, Latif Yahia, a man who claimed to have worked as Uday's security double, described him as a barely literate torturer, rapist and murderer.

Iraqi officials have dismissed the accusations.

A total of 9.2 million Iraqis were eligible to vote on the elections.

Turnout was reported high during 12 hours of voting at 1,574 stations across the country.

Failing to vote could be seen as an expression of opposition to a government that brooks little dissent and has portrayed this balloting as a signal to the West of its determination in the face of international isolation.

Tight controls dampened debate during the campaign on the sanctions, the economy and other issues.

Rallies and election manifestos were banned and candidates had very limited access to the media.

All the candidates are either members of the Baath Party or nominal independents loyal to it.

The last parliamentary elections in Iraq were held in 1996.

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