Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraqi voters are losing interest in elections scheduled for January, and not because they’re worried about security.

Instead, potential voters said they had no interest in or understanding of the process, according to a poll by the Iraq Center for Research & Strategic Studies.

The poll, conducted Sept. 15 to 22, surveyed 3,500 people nationwide. Of those, 66.8 percent said they very likely would vote in January’s elections for a National Assembly; in June, 88.8 percent had said they very likely would vote.

Just over 8 percent said they might not or definitely wouldn’t vote.

Only 12.7 percent of those saying they probably wouldn’t vote cited security concerns. A lack of information was cited by 37.3 percent; 35.7 said they had no interest. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.

“In America, you prepare for a year before the election,” said Sadoun al Dulame, the executive director of the organization that conducted the poll. “In Iraq, this is the first time, and until now, there is no real preparation.”

The results are disappointing for those who hoped the public would embrace the elections as the first step toward a democratic Iraq. They suggest that the U.S.-appointed government hasn’t effectively rallied the people to reclaim their government through elections.

“There are a lot of frustrated people,” said Huda al Nuaimi, an assistant political science professor at al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. “The interim government did not serve the individual Iraqi in any way.”