Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's youngest son Qusay was elected a senior member of the ruling Baath Party during a conference held in Baghdad on Thursday, state-run television said, cited by reports.
Al Jazeera satellite channel said the new post of the son was a preliminary step for Qusay to succeed his father.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was unanimously re-elected secretary general of his ruling Baath party during its 12th annual meeting Thursday.
Iraq's satellite channel kept up a continuous broadcast Friday of deliberations at the annual meeting, highlighted by Saddam's 40-minute speech, during which he gave guidelines to the seven newly elected members, including his younger son and head of the elite Republican Guard and a security service called the "special guards."
Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council Izzat Ibrahim remained deputy secretary general of the party.
Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Ali Hassan Al Majeed were re-elected as senior members of the party.
But Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza Al Zubeidi and Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghafur, a former information minister, did not win seats in the party body.
The party elected a woman to its regional command for the first time. She is Huda Saleh Mehdi Ammash, a university professor and daughter of a former Iraqi vice president and defense minister – Albawaba.com
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