Who did Sadam vote for?

Factual Questions
1

I doubt this question can be answered, but more generally I am semi-serious. (Assuming Saddam Hussein was provided a ballot, the number of people who would see him use it would be small and not likely to post to SDMB. Assuming they went to the trouble of giving SH a ballot, it would be in character to keep the result private anyway).

Were people in custody/jail/prison in Iraq allowed to vote?

What kind of statutes/decrees/guidelines were used to determine voter eligibility for those that were obviously qualified as Iraqi citizens?

2

Well, since most likely, all most of us can do is speculate, I’ll go ahead and do it.

IF Saddam wis given an opportunity to vote (which is a big IF), then he most likely would have refused. Voting would have given legitimacy to the US invasion and the elections, and Saddam has consistently been saying that his trial, imprisoment, etc. is invalid or illegitimate.

3

Well now that the serious (and probably spot on) speculation is out of the way, I’d say that he’d probably vote for the candidate who was most against the death penalty.

4

Here is section C of Article 27 of the LAW OF ADMINISTRATION FOR THE STATE OF IRAQ FOR THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD (Provisional Constitution)
© The Iraqi Armed Forces and its personnel, including military personnel working in the Ministry of Defense or any offices or organizations subordinate to it, may not stand for election to political office, campaign for candidates, or participate in other activities forbidden by Ministry of Defense regulations. This ban encompasses the activities of the personnel mentioned above acting in their personal or official capacities.** Nothing in this Article shall infringe upon the right of these personnel to vote in elections.** (bolding mine)

5

While the story doesn’t appear to be online, yesterday’s print version of the Guardian (the 2/2/05 edition) carried a story that he was eligible to vote, since he wasn’t a convicted criminal, but couldn’t since he was confined to his prison and there were no arrangements whereby he could cast a ballot without attending a polling station. Officials were quoted to the effect that, no, he hadn’t been able to vote in practice and so didn’t.

6

Yes, he could have voted if he wasn’t in jail. They didn’t have a polling station at the jail nor did Iraq have absentee ballots for this election so it was impossible for him to vote.

Saddam was eligible to cast vote
Saddam was eligible to vote in Iraq

7

The Reuters report that was probably the basis for all three newspaper’s story.

8

Are you sure?

I remember reading that there were over 20,000 Iraqi citizens living overseas, in countries like UK and USA, who were voting in this election. How did that work, if they didn’t have absentee ballots? Did Iraq set up polling stations in the UK & USA or what?

9

Polling stations were set up in the United States in Rosemont and Skokie IL, Nashville TN, Southgate MI, Irvine CA, and New Carrollton MD.

Chicago Tribune

10

They didn’t have absentee voting in the sense of sending it through the mail. Instead, Iraqis living in other countries could vote at polling sites set up in certain cities. In the United States, there were five sites: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Nashville (selected because they have the ‘densest pockets’ of Iraqis.

Here’s where I got that info: Obstacles Plague Absentee Voting For Iraqis in U.S.

11

Off the top of my head there were absentee ballots sent in from around 14 countries and only 10% voted. I believe there are 1 million expat iraqis.