Iraqis went to polling stations across the country on Thursday to elect their first full-term parliament since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The polls opened at 7:00 AM (04:00 GMT) under tight security measures including extended night curfews, a ban on all vehicles to fend off suicide car bombings, travel restrictions and border seals.
Sporadic attacks were reported in Baghdad, Tikrit and Samarra as voters cast their ballots, defying threats by the al-Qaida terror group in the country.
No major violence occurred throughout the election day till the voting centers closed at 5:00 PM (14:00 GMT).
About 15 million Iraqis were eligible to vote and the turnout was reportedly high as Sunni Arabs, boycotting or scared away from the January elections to choose the interim parliament, have become a major player this time around, which is widely regarded as an important development of the political process.
Even the volatile western province of Anbar, dominated by Sunnis, witnessed a brisk turnout compared with the January polls.
Some voters in the restive Ramadi in Anbar voted for the Sunni Consensus Front, headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi, and others said they voted for Salih al-Mutlak, head of the Iraqi Front of the National Dialogue.
There was also a better turnout in Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, which has been the scene of large US-Iraqi offensives.
Insurgent groups, battling the US occupation forces and the Shiite- and Kurdish-dominated interim government, also endorsed the ballot, calling on people to actively participate in it.
They also warned the al-Qaida group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi against attacking polling centers, according to statements posted by insurgent groups on Islamic websites.
In the Salahudin province, Saddam's hometown, a major Sunni list and another list led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, have proved rather popular among voters and the overall turnout there has reached 90 percent, according to local election officials.
Allawi is posing a strong showing with his non-sectarian slate.
Most of the Sunnis have viewed their boycott of the January elections which enabled Shiites and Kurds to win most of the parliament seats as a mistake leading to their marginalization under the current government.
Forty-eight hours before the polls opened, over 1,000 Sunni scholars issued a statement, urging the community to head to the voting centers in order to secure a place in a new Iraq, amend a constitution approved in October but rejected by Sunnis and end the US occupation.
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, cast his ballot in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah and interim Prime Minister Ibrahimal-Jaafari voted in a VIP polling center in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
"This is a good day for the Iraqi people who should live up to their responsibilities to vote for better future," Talabani said after voting.
In Baghdad's al-Kindy voting station, the 77-year-old Hashim Jamil said he hoped to elect a parliament with really qualified people.
Um Ibrahim, 78, came to the polling center with her family members in order to "participate in building a new government far from sectarianism."
Iraqis chose among 7,655 candidates who are running on behalf of 307 political entities including independents and 19 coalitions.
Election results will not come out in at least two weeks.
Observers expect no party to garner enough votes needed to control the parliament single-handedly and the future government is likely to emerge as a grand coalition.
(Xinhua News Agnecy December 16, 2005)
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