'It is a foregone conclusion that Saddam Hussein will not vote in these elections because he considers himself head of the Iraqi state and profoundly believes the ballots are nothing more than a farce because they are designed by the subservient government to please the American occupiers,' Issam Ghzawi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He was commenting on reports from Baghdad that prisoners, policemen and other Iraqi groups had started voting in the parliamentary elections which are due to be officially held throughout the country on Thursday.

'Applying U.S. President George W. Bush's yardstick, the polls are illegal, null and void because they are held in the presence of 165,000 foreign troops,' Ghzawi said.

'Bush earlier said that fair elections cannot be held in Lebanon while 13,000 Syrian soldiers continued to deploy in the country. Then how can fair elections take place in Iraq in the presence of 165,000 foreign troops?' he asked.

Saddam is on trial accused of involvement in the killing of 148 Shiite villagers following an assassination attempt on him in 1982. The trial has been adjourned until December 21.

dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur