Odai Saddam Hussein nominates himself for parliamentary elections

The Iraqi dailies issued on Wednesday said that Odai Saddam Hussein, the oldest son of the Iraqi president, has nominated himself for the parliamentary elections to elect members of the Iraqi National Council due on March 27.

The Iraqi papers mentioned the name of Ode Saddam Hussein (35) among nine candidates who are competing in the fifth electoral region in the capital, Baghdad, including the chairman of the national council, Sadoun Hammadi.

This is the first time the son of the Iraqi president has nominated himself for membership in the Iraqi National Council.

The fifth legislative elections in Iraqi since 1968 will permit the election of 250 members at the National Council for a term of four years of office.

The current session was elected in 1996. It is controlled by the Baath Party. Elections will be held in different parts of Iraq with the exception of three Kurdish provinces in the north which are not subjected to the central authority of Baghdad since the Gulf War in 1991.

Odai, who is an engineer and has a BA in political science from Baghdad University, holds the post of the chairman of the national Olympic committee in Iraq as well his posts as chairman of the Iraqi Journalists Union and the unions of students and youths. He also supervises Iraqi television and radio and several papers and weeklies.