'Polls could be spread over a 20-day period'

"Everyone -- Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Kurds, Turkomans -- should take part in the vote," he was quoted as saying by the daily Le Soir, referring to landmark polls planned for January 30.

"For that I think one could envisage elections spread over 15 days, 20 days, with polling on different dates for different provinces ... That would allow for adequate security arrangements to be put in place," he added.

The interview was carried out last weekend in Geneva, where the interim Iraqi prime minister was on a private visit.

Asked by the French-language newspaper if he was talking about holding elections on different dates depending on each province, Allawi replied: "Exactly.

"Currently we think that 14 or 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces are calm," he said, while conceding that the security situation was "bad" in Mosul, the Anbar province, small areas of Baghdad and part of the Diyala province

A resurgence of violence in Iraq has fueled speculation about whether the interim Iraqi government will be able to stick by the January 30 planned poll date.

US President George W. Bush reaffirmed his backing for the date on Monday, saying after talks with interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar that: "It is necessary for the Iraqi people to vote on January 30."

Allawi added: "The date of January 30 is fixed. People can express their opinion, that is important. But the elections will take place," while stressing that the polls were "the start of the democratic process, not the end."

The interim Iraqi leader added that foreign observers would have access to the entire electoral process, to ensure that the ballots are "free and fair."

Meanwhile, the departing CIA station chief in Iraq and another CIA official who visited there recently presented bleak views of the situation in Iraq in classified briefings to their superiors, The New York Times said yesterday.

In a classified cable sent in late November, the CIA chief who ended a year-long tour of duty in Iraq, warned that the security situation was likely to get worse, including more violence and sectarian violence unless the Iraqi government asserted authority and built up the economy, said officials familiar with his cable.