Exhibit 31.1

     Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the
                           Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, W. Barry Gilbert, certify that:

     1. I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly
period ended December 26, 2003 of IEC Electronics Corp.;

     2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not  misleading  with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

     3. Based on my knowledge,  the  financial  statements  and other  financial
information  included in this  quarterly  report fairly  present in all material
respects the financial  condition,  results of operations  and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

     4. The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer and I are  responsible for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15 d-15(e) for the registrant and have:

     a)  designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  or caused  such
disclosure  controls  to be  designed  under our  supervision,  to  ensure  that
material  information  relating to the  registrant,  including its  consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,  particularly
during the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

     b) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and,

     c) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control
over  financial  reporting  that occurred  during the  registrant's  most recent
fiscal  quarter  that  has  materially  affected,  or is  reasonably  likely  to
materially affect, the registrant's  internal control over financial  reporting;
and

     5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,  to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors
(or persons performing the equivalent functions):

     a) All significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses in the design or
operation of internal  control over  financial  reporting  which are  reasonably
likely  to  adversely  affect  the  registrant's  ability  to  record,  process,
summarize and report financial information; and

     b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves  management or other
employees who have a significant role in the registrant's  internal control over
financial reporting.



Dated: January 29, 2004                          /s/ W. Barry Gilbert
                                                 ------------------------
                                                     W. Barry Gilbert
                                                     Chairman and Acting
                                                     Chief Executive Officer



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