The former chief of the Baas party, who will not vote because he still considers himself chief of the Iraqi State, said the election is a farce for the foreign troops, Issam Ghzawi told media.

Saddam Hussein does not recognize the structures created after the defeat by the US-UK military invasion.

Political analysts tend to support this view, considering elections held under foreign military occupation as illegal and undemocratic, taking place in an environment of hate and insecurity created by the foreign troops.

Ghzawi made the logical comparison with US President George W. Bush statement that elections couldn't be fair in Lebanon with the presence of 13 thousand soldiers from Syria.

"How then can elections in Iraq be fair with the presence of 165,000 foreign soldiers?" asked the spokesman.

“Iraqi policemen burn election posters of Interim Prime Minister Allawi, as they rally through the streets of Najaf, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Monday, Jan. 17, 2005. Policemen demanded their salaries for last several months.

Saddam loyalists warn Zarqawi, urge Sunnis to vote
-Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday’s polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning Al Qaeda militants not to attack. In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find. Instead, election campaign posters dominate buildings in the rebel strongholds of Ramadi and nearby Falluja, where Sunnis staged a boycott or were too scared to vote last time around. “We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote,” said Falluja resident Ali Mahmoud, a former army officer and rocket specialist under Saddam’s Baath party. “Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets telling Al Qaeda that they will face us if they attack voters.” The shift is encouraging for.......    More