Survey Finds 80% Of Iraqis Plan To Vote.

USA Today (1/26, Zoroya) reports on the upcoming Iraqi election,
noting that “large swaths of the country are relatively
peaceful, and Iraqis are excited about the chance to cast their
first meaningful ballot. A recent survey by the International
Republican Institute found that 80% of Iraqis say they will
probably vote.” The Christian Science Monitor (1/26,
Peterson) profiles an Iraqi family whose four members who
are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election intend to do so. The
Monitor notes that “questions remain for this family, and many
others, about who is running on the 111 party lists, most of
which have remained secret to protect the candidates, and
who will fill the 275 seats of a parliament tasked with writing a
new constitution.” In a story on the state of the public mood
in Iraq, ABC World News Tonight(1/25, story 3, 4:10,
Jennings) that “two out of three Iraqis in the central zone here
told us they are optimistic about the future. That's resilience
for you.”