Turnout expected to reach 80%- organization

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: A civil society organization said that opinion polls conducted in five Iraqi provinces have revealed an estimated 80 percent turnout in the upcoming parliamentary election. “The opinion polls were conducted in the provinces of Karbala, Najaf, Babel, al-Qadissiya (now known as Diwaniya) and Basra, with the participation of 1,000 persons of different ages, including 390 women,” the head of the Cultural Assembly Organization, Sabah Hassan Abdulameer, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Eighty percent of those questioned said they would go to the polls, while 36 percent said they would vote in favor of the democratic slates. Parliamentary election is scheduled to take place in Iraq on March 7, 2010. SS (P)/SR 1