Two Iraqis register to vote in Illinois, US, Jan. 23.  The vote for Iraqi general election was postponed for two days, because US east coast and mid-west were hit by snowstorm. The Iraqis living in US will begin to vote in five US cities from Jan. 28 to 30. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawer has called on his countrymen to take part in the general elections slated for next Sunday.

In an interview with the Lebanese television Al Hayat-LBC on Sunday, al-Yawer said, "Iraqis must know that voting is not only one of their rights but a national duty to choose the ones to represent them in the National Assembly that will write their constitution."

Noting a low number of Iraqis registering abroad for elections,al-Yawer explained that many Iraqis living outside the country are busy with their work and many cannot afford going long distance to vote.

"I ask Iraqis to go and vote. Please vote. It doesn't matter for whom, but I beg to vote," he urged.

He also envisioned that in the future, the Iraqi leadership will not be decided by the line of religious sects they belong to but by their political competence.

Al-Yawer dismissed the existing provision of the interim constitution which gives the presidency to a Sunni Muslim and the prime ministership to a Shiite, saying it would not be included in the new charter to be meted out by the assembly elected next weekend.

Shiites account for 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million population but the country has been ruled by Sunni Arabs for the last decades.The Shiites are eyeing majority seats in the coming elections.