1995 Iraqi presidential referendum
presidential election under Saddam Hussein
A presidential referendum was held in Iraq on October 15, 1995. It was the first direct presidential election in Ba'athist Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein, who had seized power through the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in 1979. Taking the form of a referendum with no other candidates, the election involved distributing to voters paper ballots that said: "Do you approve of President Saddam Hussein being the President of the Republic?" They then used pens to mark "yes" or "no". The next day, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Hussein's deputy in the ruling RCC, announced the incumbent had won 99.96% of some 8.4 million valid votes cast. Officially, 3,052 people voted against him (45 of them in Baghdad), and turnout was 99.47%. The international community reacted with widespread incredulity to these figures.
Background
The election was prompted by the August defection to Jordan of senior government officials Hussein Kamel al-Majid and Saddam Kamel and their wives. During the crisis that followed, Saddam took steps to control the damage; the referendum was an attempt to shore up his claim to legitimacy. At a September 7 meeting of the RCC, an interim amendment to the Constitution was approved whereby its chairman would automatically assume the presidency, subject to approval of the National Assembly and endorsement by national plebiscite. Parliament approved his candidacy on September 10, setting the stage for the meticulously organised election.
“1995 Iraqi presidential referendum” enters the record as presidential election under Saddam Hussein. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Iraqi, presidential and referendum can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6068179. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1995 and 1979.
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