Saddam wins 100 pc of vote in referendum

President Saddam Hussein has won 100 per cent of the vote in a referendum giving him another seven-year term, it was announced this morning.

There was no other candidate on the ballot paper.

"The president leader Saddam Hussein, God preserve him, has won 100 percent of the vote," the head of the committee supervising the vote, Mr Ezzat Ibrahim said in Baghdad.

A total of "11,445,638 voters" said yes to Saddam, a 100 per cent turnout, he said.

The authorities, who tightly control the voting process, had urged voters to turn out in force to show massive support for Saddam in the face of US threats of military action and President Bush's declared desire to remove him from power.