BAGHDAD, Nov 22 (AFP) - Just hours after Iraq announced it would hold elections on January 30, organisers set their sights on ensuring a mass turnout throughout the country, despite violence and calls for a poll boycott by around 60 Sunni Muslim groups.
"These are the first free, multi-party elections since 1954 and I can tell you that according to our 6,000 electoral agents throughout the country, there is a real fervour (to vote) even in the Sunni regions," Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi, who heads the electoral committee, told AFP on Monday.
Voting day will see Iraqis given the chance to elect 275 members of the provisional national assembly, along with members of 18 provincial councils.
In the north, Kurds will also vote for their autonomous parliament which has largely run their affairs since 1992 after the US and Britain imposed a no-fly zone in the region which guarded them against the then president Saddam Hussein.
But nothing is certain on what will happen on the actual day. Even voting numbers are hazy.
Nearly 14 million voters are eligible to go to the polls, according to the number of ration cards issued to adults by Iraq's commerce ministry under the UN programme "oil for food" in the days of Saddam.
But there are newcomers who have returned home after Saddam's fall in April 2003. They will be able to register to vote by showing two identity documents proving their Iraqi nationality.
In addition, some three million Iraqis living overseas, many of whom fled the regime, will also be able to vote from January 28 to 30 in 14 countries.
These are Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United States.
The real unknown will be the number of Sunnis who turn out. They form about 20 percent of the population and ran the nation until Saddam's overthrow.
"In (the northern city) Mosul, the elections are being prepared even if the insurgents have burnt the voting materials, and I can assure you the poll will take place in the Al-Anbar region (the province holding the restive towns of Fallujah and Ramadi).
"I can't reveal yet how we will organise things but the residents will vote in their provinces," said Hindawi.
"There are still 69 days until the poll and a lot of people who are calling today for a boycott will take part. The people want to vote after years of dictatorship. They want to be able to express themselves," said Hindawi, an opponent of the old regime who lived in exile for more than 30 years, mainly in France and Britain.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in an interview published in Ankara on Monday that a Sunni boycott of the Iraqi elections would upset political balances and create even more trouble in the war-torn country.
"Big difficulties may arise if the Sunni Arab community does not participate fully in the elections," Gul said. "This will be also very dangerous for (Iraq's) Sunni Arab community in the future."
If Sunnis are under-represented, political balances will be upset in favor of the Shiites and "a problematic situation" will emerge, he said.
Iraq is spending 250 million dollars for this landmark election. Voting papers are being printed in Switzerland to avoid counterfeiting, and a company will distribute them to the 9,000 polling stations which will be equipped with 40,000 ballot boxes.
Each voting list will have a number and a logo.
"We have banned any emblem showing violence or religious symbols," said Hindawi. "Under this rule, we have rejected one list which depicted a tank, another which opted for a Koran with a sun, and a third which had mass graves."

11/22/2004 14:36 GMT - AFP