British sources said that posters have been spotted elsewhere in the South that bear the striking symbol of a headless body and an ink-marked thumb beside the words: “You vote, you die”.

Saeed Abdul Saheb al-Battat, head of the independent electoral commission of Iraq in Basra, expressed confidence yesterday that his 15,000 workers, backed by a similar number of Iraqi police, a large chunk of Iraq’s newly trained army and thousands of British-led troops, would be capable of safeguarding voters as they start lining up from 7am on Sunday to enjoy their first taste of real democracy.

The mainly Shia population of the South will, however, still be facing the threat of violence, just as it did when they were obliged to vote for Saddam Hussein in the Baath version of democracy.

British military sources said that Basra was the centre of activity for Sunni and radical Islamic extremists in the South. Three suicide bombs on January 10 and 11 were aimed at a Ministry of Interior building, a police station and the office of an Islamic political party.

The British military suspects that Basra may be hosting “guest bombers” from the North intent on disrupting election day. “At the moment the threat is high,” one officer said.

British troops in the city, headed by the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, will be discreetly deployed to protect the 180 polling stations in Basra, forming an “outer ring” around the city and ready to move in if there is a terrorist attack.

However, as Brigadier Paul Gibson, commander of 4th Armoured Brigade in Basra, said: “The Iraqi election is for the Iraqi people and run by the Iraqi security forces.”

The attack on the British logistics base at Shaibah, southwest of Basra, last Friday served as a reminder to all troops that, while the South has been relatively peaceful compared to Baghdad and elsewhere in Sunni-dominated Central Iraq, they are now facing potentially the most dangerous period of their tour.

The nine soldiers injured in the Shaibah attack were lucky. The driver of the explosives- laden car heading for the base was caught out by a change in patrol patterns and may have run off before the improvised device detonated.

How the people of Basra will vote and in what numbers remains unclear.

This is not a community that likes politicians but it respects authority and leadership. Iyad Allawi, the secular Shia Prime Minister, is popular because of his perceived toughness in supporting the US-led military action against insurgents in Fallujah last year. Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical cleric whose militia caused such violent mayhem in Najaf last year, also has some stature and his posters are never ripped down.

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