Posted by Dan Ewert : 10/18/2002 02:25:00 AM (Archive Link)
Ah, it warms my heart to read about Iraq going through a democratic election. It was a chance for the people to decide whether they approved of a despotic, tyrannical regime or if they feared it too much to say otherwise. The ballots themselves only had two choices concerning Saddam Hussein’s reelection: yes and no. I imagine the question could have been rewritten as, “Do you not want to risk the secret police turning your life into a living hell or ending your life altogether? Yes or no?” A “no” vote, of course, would be irrelevant as it would enter a new ballot box that’s more commonly referred to as a trash can. Is the election laughable? Absolutely. It was absurd even before it began. Several years ago, a similar election netted Saddam only 99.96% of the vote. This time around, the election officials declared they were shooting for 100% and, lo, they got it: 100% of eligible voters voted and they voted yes for Hussein. In fact, they announced this long before it was logistically possible for them to be even remotely sure. I’m sure many of those in Europe who support Iraq wished that Saddam’s crew would have shown a little restraint in skewing results. If it had been reported that only 80%-85% supported Saddam, then at least the pro-Iraq folks could have pointed that out as proof of Saddam’s popularity and “legitimacy” since the election would have retained a slight shred of statistical believability.

One thing I’ve been interested in but haven’t read anywhere is what are the parameters used to define an eligible Iraqi voter? Apparently, there are 11,445,638 such people but I don’t know what makes them valid.