Iraq to hold provincial polls on different days-PM

BAGHDAD, May 18 (Reuters) - Iraq will hold provincial elections later this year on different days for security reasons and to prevent voter-rigging, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday.

Political analysts say the elections will be the battleground for a fierce power struggle -- especially among majority Shi'ites -- that could redraw Iraq's political map.

Major players such as the movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Sunni Arab tribal groups will be competing for the first time and are expected to make gains at the expense of those now in power.

The polls are due to be held on Oct. 1, but it was not immediately clear if that would remain the first day of voting.

"The government will hold the elections over different times, not on one day, to guarantee the safety of voters and to halt fraud," Maliki said in a statement after meeting the U.N. special representative to Iraq, Staffan de Mistura.

"The government is resolved to provide the appropriate atmosphere to hold the elections in a proper way and to guarantee neutrality, away from anyone's interference."

Washington says the elections will foster national reconciliation by boosting the participation of minority Sunni Arabs in politics. Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last local elections in January 2005 along with the Sadrists, are under-represented in areas where they are numerically dominant.

But many fear conflict in the Shi'ite south, where the Sadrists and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which backs Maliki, are vying for influence in a region home to most of Iraq's oil production.

The Sadrist movement has accused Maliki of using a recent crackdown on the group's Mehdi Army militia to try to weaken it ahead of the elections. Maliki has said he is imposing law and order and has threatened to bar the Sadrists from the polls unless they disband the militia. (Writing by Dean Yates)