Iraqis Vote in First Legislative Election Since Gulf War

In an election whose meaning was disputed by friends and foes of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, millions of Iraqis voted Sunday for a National Assembly for the first time since the country’s defeat five years ago in the Persian Gulf War.

Opponents of the government saw the vote as a parody of democracy designed to produce a rubber-stamp parliament while softening Iraq’s image abroad in hopes that economic sanctions that have pauperized the nation will be eased.

But the government, pointing to a large field of “independent” candidates vying for 220 seats, said the vote would provide a valid test of its popularity.

Some independent commentators said the poll was at least a small step in the right direction.

“I don’t believe it is merely an exercise,” said political analyst Labib Kamhawi in Amman. “I think the regime would like to see more people involved, without affecting its ability to run the show.”

Eight million Iraqis were eligible to vote, and polling stations were reportedly packed. Opposition groups conceded that turnout would be high, in part because of fears that nonattendance would be noted by police. Results were expected late today.

For a one-party state, the most unusual aspect of the voting was that the government allowed 469 “independent” candidates to compete, running against 160 candidates from Hussein’s ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party. There was no explanation of why so few Baathists were on the ballot.

Exile groups said the vote was of little significance because real power in Iraq resides with Hussein and his powerful Revolutionary Command Council, not parliament.

Besides, every candidate was screened in advance for loyalty to the principles of the 1968 revolution that brought the Baathists to power, the 1980-88 war against Iran and the 1991 Gulf War that pitted Baghdad against Kuwait and its U.S-led allies.

As a result, the majority of the “independents” were Baathist sympathizers, said Hamid Bayati of the opposition Supreme Council for Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

Hussein’s grip on power is as strong as ever. In the country’s last election, a presidential referendum in October, the government said Hussein won 99.96% of the vote.

This past week saw fresh allegations from the United States and United Nations that Hussein is resurrecting his army and that he has as many as 15 missiles armed with biological warheads hidden on trucks. U.N. weapons inspectors maintain that, five years after the war, Iraq is still working secretly to acquire chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.

Baghdad rejects the accusations, which have cost it an estimated $75 billion in oil sales because of continuing U.N. sanctions.

Talks with the United Nations are scheduled to resume April 8 over an offer that would allow Iraq to sell $1 billion in oil every 90 days, with proceeds going to buy food and medicine for a populace suffering enormous deprivations. U.N. relief officials say that as many as 4 million of Iraq’s 20 million people are threatened with starvation.

So far Iraq has refused the U.N. offer, saying that it infringes on its sovereignty. The chief stumbling block in two rounds of negotiations has been the U.N.’s insistence that Iraq give $130 million to $150 million of the proceeds to the rebellious Kurdish areas in the north.

Most candidates in the election ran on promises of improving the economy by getting the U.N. sanctions lifted, and the new assembly could provide Hussein with a cover for backing down on this issue.

Iraq’s government has been speaking recently of introducing political pluralism. State media hailed Sunday’s election as “a considerable milestone on the road to democratic change.”