Most Iraqis will vote, claims president

BAGHDAD - Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar says he expects up to two-thirds of eligible Iraqis to vote in Sunday's election, after earlier appearing to suggest most would not cast their ballots.

"I expect a majority, up to two-thirds of eligible Iraqis, to vote," said Yawar today. "Of the people who will not vote, the majority of them are scared of violence."

In his earlier comments, Yawar - a Sunni Arab - said most Iraqis would not vote because they were frightened off by violence.

He later said he meant that among Iraqis who would not vote, most would not participate due to fears of violence rather than because of boycott calls from several groups.

There has been a sharp increase in violence, including car bomb blasts, mortar attacks and shootings, this week as polling day approaches. The US military said attacks on US and Iraqi troops had trebled in the past seven days.

An estimated 14 million Iraqis are eligible to vote on Sunday in Iraq's first multi-party election since the 1950s.

Insurgent groups, particularly the organisation headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have vowed to disrupt the polls and kill anyone who votes.

Around 6,000 polling centres have been set up around Iraq, but the location of many is being kept secret until the last minute to minimise the risk they will be bombed.

Turnout is expected to be low in Sunni Arab areas, where the insurgency gripping Iraq for nearly two years is focused. The government has said it hopes for a national turnout of around 50 per cent.

Yawar, whose position is mainly ceremonial, also said any political process that did not include Sunnis, Kurds and Shi'ites, Iraq's three main religious and ethnic groups, would be invalid.

Shi'ites, who make up about 60 per cent of Iraq's population and were oppressed during Saddam Hussein's rule, are widely expected to dominate the polls.

- REUTERS