Iraq will hold "rolling elections" around the country because the security situation is too poor for a nationwide poll to be policed properly, the deputy prime minister said today.

Voting will start this year for local government representatives, Barham Salih said, beginning in Sunni areas where demand was strongest.

The combined total force of the Iraqi Army and police force was now up to 567,000, with another two divisions of about 12,000 each planned, Mr Salih told Times Online after a Davos debate on the quest for peace and stability.

"I am personally in favour of a rolling election because it will be less taxing on the system," he said.

"I expect this will happen sometime soon because demand from local communities is growing," he said.

Mr Salih also appealed for political and religious leaders to do more to dissuade people from becoming suicide bombers in Iraq.

"We have been afflicted by this tornado of terrorism, day in, day out," he said.

"Very few religious leaders inside and outside of Iraq are speaking out. There needs to be a united effort by religious and political leaders in the Islamic world and beyond to combat this scourge."

He added that this year Iraq was planning to devolve $3.3 billion (£1.7 billion) to provincial government, compared with $2.2 billion last year.

Improvements in security in Anbar province showed that it was possible to bring peace to the whole of the country, Mr Salih added.

"A year ago many people deemed Anbar lost," he said. "I dare say if we could win Anbar back, our winning of the whole of Iraq ... is also possible."

The US military plans to hand over to Iraqi control of the western province in the next three months, after Sunni tribal leaders turned against al-Qaeda and switched their loyalty to the US military.

Mr Salih said that the progress of democracy and devolving power through the elections were essential to the defeat of al-Qaeda.

"What made us win Anbar was not just bringing in more troops. It was the decision of Arab tribes in the Anbar province to take on al-Qaeda.

"The challenges of transition in Iraq is the ultimate transition ... from a country that was ruled by tyranny for decades to what we aspire it to be — a functioning democracy that will be the heart of the Islamic Middle East."

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