Iraqis are voting today in a referendum in which President Saddam Hussein is the sole candidate for seven more years in office.
Some 11.5 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the more than 1,000 polling stations set up across 15 provinces.
Polling opened at 8.00 a.m. (5 a.m. Irish time) for 12 hours and the results were due to be announced during the night.
The ruling Baath Party has mobilised the country in a massive propaganda effort to produce a 100 per cent vote for Saddam who has ruled since 1979 in defiance of US efforts to topple the regime.
The country has been covered with banners declaring undying love for Saddam, thousands of meetings, parades and rallies organised.
Anyone picking up their telephone found the dialling tone had been replaced by the "Naam, naam Saddam" (Yes, yes Saddam) campaign slogan. It was followed by "All Iraq sings, 'Saddam is the pride of my country'".
The Iraqi Communication and Post Co. had introduced the new dialling tone yesterday as part of the massive propaganda effort.
Delegations from "friendly" states across the world have been flown and bussed in to witness the exercise of "democracy" in Iraq.
The 65-year-old president garnered 99.96 per cent of the vote in the country's first referendum in 1995.
AFP