国际英语新闻：Poll shows 63 pct of eligible Iraqis to vote in March 7 election

BAGHDAD, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A poll shows 63 percent of Iraq's registered voters will go to the polls in the March 7 parliamentary election, lower than the 69.97 percent in the first parliamentary election in 2005.

The poll, conducted by Iraq's National Media Center (NMC), interviewed 5,000 people from all 18 provinces, with 66 percent of them from urban areas and the rest from rural places.

The results show the top participation ratios of surveyed voters are 83 percent in northern Kurdish Dohuk province and 78 percent in southern Shiite-dominated Dhi qar province. The western Sunni-dominated Anbar province has the lowest of 43.6 percent.

NMC supervisor Ali al-Mosawisays said the poll also shows 63 percent of Iraqis are optimistic with Iraq's future and about 20 percent call for security improvement.

The March election has around 19 million eligible voters, including 1.4 million living abroad. They will elect 325 lawmakers out of more than 6,100 candidates from 297 political entities.