Iraq's election organisers predict higher turnout

Organisers of next week's Iraqi election say they expect voter turnout to be higher than in January's historic poll or the referendum held in October.

They say more sophisticated campaigning, better media coverage and an increase in the number of polling stations in some of Iraq's more lawless provinces will ensure that at least two thirds of Iraqis turn out to vote.

"I think turnout will be even higher than in the referendum in October, when it was 64 percent," Hussein Hindawi, head of Iraq's electoral commission, told reporters this week.

Hindawi said people in Baghdad and in the provinces of Anbar, Nineveh and Diyala, which have borne the brunt of insurgent violence, would find voting much easier next Thursday.

Many Sunni Arabs boycotted January's election out of either fear or disgust at their loss of influence under the occupation, turning towns and cities like Falluja and Ramadi into virtual ghost towns on polling day and reducing turnout to a trickle.

Things had improved somewhat by October, when Iraqis voted on their new constitution.

"In the last election there were less than 20 election centres in Anbar. In the referendum there were 144 centres and now I think there will be more than 160," Hindawi said.

"Turnout in Anbar province was 31 percent in the referendum. The security situation is better in Ramadi, so participation will be better, regardless of who people vote for."

He said there was more electioneering on television and more campaign posters on the streets than in January, when some 8.5 million Iraqis -- 58 percent of the electorate -- turned out to vote in the country's first democratic election for 50 years.

Then, Iraqis were voting for an interim government whereas this time they will choose a parliament for a full four-year term, making it arguably more significant.

Voters can choose between 231 lists -- some coalitions, some of them parties and others made up of independent candidates.