Overseas Iraqis register for vote

Up to 10% of the electorate could cast their ballots overseas

Iraqis living outside their country have begun registering their names to vote in this month's election.

Centres have opened in 14 countries across four continents, including Syria, Jordan, the US and Britain.

Organisers believe about four million exiles and expatriates could be eligible to vote.

But electors may be put off by having to travel twice - once to register and once to vote - over long distances.

IRAQ'S OVERSEAS POLLS Syria: 500,000 Jordan: 360,000 US: 313,000 UK: 250,000 Iran: 134,137 UAE: 100,000 Sweden: 91,600 Germany: 75,000 Australia: 75,000 Netherlands: 44,000 Turkey: 40,000 Canada: 36,000 Denmark: 26,000 France: 8,000 Number of Iraqis living in 14 nations where voting is to be held (Source: IOM)

Voters must be aged 18 or over and be deemed an Iraqi citizen or eligible for Iraqi citizenship.

Registration is being conducted for seven days until 23 January. Overseas polling takes place from 28 to 30 January, the last day being election day in Iraq.

Voting takes place only at the centre where electors registered to vote, and they must present a registration receipt and a photo ID.

Saddam Hussein's regime held referendums on his presidency in 1995 and 2002, but they were not considered serious by the international community.

'Symbol of democracy'

"This is a beautiful day," said Mohammed Kamal, 18, who registered in the Jordanian capital, Amman - where the overseas vote is being co-ordinated by the International Organisation for Migration.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Amman says some Jordanians are opposed to the process, believing it to be just a device for endorsing the US-led occupation in Iraq.

About 320 poll workers have been trained in southern California

But many Iraqi exiles are excited about the chance to vote in a genuine election - some for the first time in their lives

The first Iraqi voter to register overseas was in Sydney - one of two Australian cites where nine registration and polling centres have been set up.

She was Nassima Barzani, 69, a non-English-speaking Kurdish refugee whose late husband was a bodyguard to the Kurdish nationalist leader Mustafa Barzani.

"She wants to be a symbol for democracy, and Iraqi women, and Kurdish women," her son told AFP news agency.

Registration and voting in the US, home to an estimated 313,000 Iraqis, is being held at seven sites scattered across the country: Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington DC, with two in both Chicago and Nashville.

"This is a great moment for me and for the people of Iraq," Abdulrasul al-Hayder told the Associated Press news agency as he registered in a Detroit suburb.

"This is the moment when Iraqis will put their stamp on the democracy. We've been waiting so many years."

Prospective voters were carefully searched as they came to register in 10 schools serving as electoral centres in the Syrian capital, Damascus.