Will you settle for pictures of the voting?? <:-)
scroll down
cigarsinthesand.blogspot.com
edition.cnn.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's historic election day is nearing its close with the independent election commission reporting a 72 percent nationwide turnout by mid-afternoon amid attacks and threats of attacks to disrupt the vote.
The commission's Adil Al-Lami and Safwat Rashid did not release figures for Iraq's largest province, al-Anbar -- west of Baghdad, including Falluja and Ramadi -- or the northwestern Nineveh province, which includes Mosul.
"There has been a vast turnout in Iraq," Rashid said.
The commissioners reported turnout as high as 95 percent in some parts of the capital, Baghdad, but did not offer total numbers of voters.
Meanwhile, attacks throughout Iraq, including at least eight suicide bombings in Baghdad, killed 16 people and injured at least 52.
However, U.S. commanders expecting a greater level of violence said they were pleasantly surprised that their massive security operation had paid off, CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reported from the Iraqi capital.
A statement posted on several Islamic Web sites, purportedly from a group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks on polling areas in Baghdad as well as attacks in other areas of Iraq.
In addition, the statement said Zarqawi's group, called al Qaeda in Iraq, was responsible for a Saturday attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which killed two Americans. The statement does not specifically mention the embassy, but makes reference to an attack in the Green Zone area of the city, calling it the "Black Zone."
The statement said the group had promised to conduct the attacks "to make fun of those that demand democracy."
CNN correspondents earlier reported that turnout was sporadic across the nation after 30,000 polling booths opened at 7 a.m. on Sunday (0400 GMT) under the watchful eye of Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops. Voting is scheduled to end at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT).
In former president Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, polling stations were virtually empty. But in other parts of the country booths were packed with people casting their ballots, many of them for the first time in their lifetime.
In the northeastern town of Baquba, CNN's Jane Arraf found a polling station where a long line of Iraqi voters chanted and clapped their hands in front of the camera.
One voter told Arraf that Sunday's vote was a "bullet in the heart of the enemy."
Further north in the Kurdistan town of Salamanca, CNN's Nic Robertson reported seeing a 90-year-old woman being taken to a booth in a wheelbarrow. Others came on crutches to cast their ballot.
In the southern city of Basra, ITN's Juliet Bremner reported that turnout was almost 90 percent. She said voting was peaceful and orderly with elated Shias -- oppressed for decades under Saddam -- "determined to cast their votes in their desire for freedom, peace and food."
But the landmark vote for a nation that has survived decades of brutal oppression and nearly two years of war and insurgency was marred by eight suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad that killed at least 11 people and injured 47 more.
Identifying them by their ink-stained fingers, insurgents also rounded up four voters after they left a polling station and killed them by throwing grenades at them, Iraqi police from Baghdad headquarters said.
The incident occurred in the Sheikh Mar'rof area near the Haifa Street area. Haifa Street is considered an insurgent stronghold.
The killings caused some voters to be afraid to leave the election centers after casting their ballots. The U.S. military was investigating and helicopters were hovering in the area.
Insurgents in the capital had earlier distributed flyers warning citizens against participating in the election, claiming they would "wash Baghdad streets with voters' blood."
The western Baghdad neighborhood of Mansour also saw two bombings. One killed an Iraqi police officer about 8 a.m. at a school functioning as a polling station, and wounded five people -- two Iraqi soldiers and three civilians.
Three other areas in western Baghdad were targeted. A suicide attacker blew up about 100 yards (meters) from a booth in al-Iskan, detonating before going through the security cordon, killing one person and wounding 10.
Mortar rounds in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Sadr city, Saadoun Park and al Shourha al Rabia have also killed four people so far.
Loud explosions were also reported in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul and Basra in the south, although it was not clear if there were any casualties.
Leading the way
Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer was among the first to vote, saying he hoped the vote would be the first step towards a democracy that Iraqis will be proud of.
"Deep in my heart, I feel that Iraqis deserve free elections," al-Yawer said after voting in Baghdad.
He was followed hours later by Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who cast his vote donning his glasses and smiling as he dipped his finger in ink.
As the voting began, the looming question was how many of the 14.2 million Iraqis registered to vote would cast ballots amid vows by insurgents to "wash" the streets with "voters' blood."
Of particular concern is the turnout of Sunnis in central Iraq, where the violence has been most pronounced in the past few weeks.
Iraqi officials have urged voters not to let the threat deter them from exercising the democratic right to choose their leaders.
"Your participation will foil the terrorists," said Thair al-Naqib, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
"The elections are a great success for the people -- it will represent the rule of law, not the rule of violence."
In Baghdad alone, 15,000 U.S. soldiers were on patrol amid travel and weapons bans, and sealed airspace and borders. (Full story)
Iraqi expatriates in 14 countries around the world, including the United States, had one last opportunity Sunday to cast votes, as the three-day window for out-of-country voting closes.
Election officials reported Saturday that at least 84,400 people had voted abroad so far, about 30 percent of the 280,300 Iraqi expatriates who registered.
Turnout in the United States was about 22 percent after the first day of voting.
Pivotal moment
Iraqis are electing a 275-member transitional National Assembly, which will draft a new constitution and pick the country's next president and two vice presidents. The president, in turn, will select a prime minister.
Voters are also electing members of 18 provincial councils. In addition, residents of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region are electing a Kurdish parliament.
The election marks a pivotal moment not only for the Iraqi people, but also for U.S. President George W. Bush, who vowed not to leave Iraq after the vote. (Full story)
After navigating security checkpoints to get to their polling places, Iraqi voters face a lengthy ballot.
Due to security concerns, names of the 7,000 candidates vying for office were not revealed until the final days of January.
Two broad-based parties -- the United Iraqi Alliance and the Iraqi List -- are expected to lead the pack.
The United Iraqi Alliance is a Shiite-dominated slate of candidates backed by a leading cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
While most of its support comes from the Shiite majority -- about 60 percent of the population -- the alliance also includes some smaller Sunni and Kurdish groups.
The Iraqi List is led by Allawi, who became the face of Iraqi government after sovereignty was restored in June.
Also likely to do well in the vote is the Kurdistan Alliance List, that includes the two main Kurdish political parties and nine smaller Kurdish parties.
Kurds make up less than 20 percent of the population, but they are expected to vote in large numbers because of a generally stable security situation in the northern part of the country, where they are concentrated.
Sunnis, who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein despite making up less than a quarter of the population, are likely to see an erosion in their political position after the vote.
Not only is the security situation tenuous in many Sunni areas, but also, two influential Sunni groups -- the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Association of Muslim Scholars -- are boycotting the elections.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Jane Arraf, Nic Robertson, Auday Sadeq and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. |
