Pat Dollard | Young Americans

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s provincial elections have wrapped up without any reports of serious violence.

Polls closed at 6 p.m. (10 a.m. EST) on Saturday — an hour later than planned — after millions of voters cast ballots for influential regional councils around most of Iraq. There were no reports of major violence.

Iraqi authorities imposed a huge security operation around the country that included traffic bans in major cities and extensive checkpoints and surveillance posts. The U.S. military also was out in force but did not take a direct role in the election security.

Results from the elections are not expected before Tuesday.

Iraqis passed through security checkpoints and razor-wire cordons to vote Saturday in provincial elections that are considered a crucial test of the nation’s stability as U.S. officials weigh the pace of troop withdrawals.

Polls opened shortly after dawn after a step-by-step security clampdown across the country, including traffic bans in central Baghdad and other major cities and closure of border crossings and airports.

Though there was no major violence during voting, there were some disruptions at the polls.

A Kurdish official said hundreds of Iraqi Kurds stormed an election office in a disputed city after claiming many Kurds were not on voting lists for provincial elections. There were no reports of serious injuries.

The protest in Khanaqin on Saturday is part of lingering disputes over control of the city about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad. In August, Kurdish and Iraqi forces were locked in a tense standoff before the Kurds backed off.

Salahuddin Kekhaa, a Kurdish official in Khanaqin, says Kurds held a rally to claim that thousands of Kurds were left off voting list. Then they tried to break into the local election office but were turned back, he said

Ghufran al-Saidi, a Shiite lawmaker in the Sadr City district, said a military officer opened fire in Baghdad after voters chanted slogans at a polling station. He said two people were injured, one of them seriously.

Iraq’s military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, told Al-Arabiya television that one person was killed and one injured after some people tried to carry mobile phones through security cordons.

The reason for the conflicting accounts was not immediately clear.

In Tikrit, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, three mortar shells exploded near a polling station, but caused no casualties, said police, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

A bomb found near a Tikrit voting center was defused, police added.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, Iraqi police and army soldiers manned a series of checkpoints — some only 200 yards apart. Stores were closed and the streets cleared of cars.

A group of U.S. soldiers patrolled on foot, but well away from polling centers. The U.S. military assisted in security preparations for the elections, but said troops would only be called in on election day if needed.

In the western city of Fallujah — once a center of the Sunni insurgency — police used their patrol cars to help some people get to voting stations.

More than 14,000 candidates are running for 440 seats on the influential councils in all of Iraq’s provinces except for the autonomous Kurdish region in the north and the province that includes oil-rich Kirkuk, where ethnic groups were unable to reach a power-sharing formula. Polls were to close at 5 p.m. Preliminary results are not expected before Tuesday.

Voters headed home waved their purple-tinted index fingers, which are dipped in ink to identify people who already cast ballots. The ink-stained fingers became an iconic image of Iraq’s first post-Saddam Hussein elections four years ago.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, shadowed by a bodyguard, dipped his finger into an ink box after voting in the walled Green Zone enclave in Baghdad.

He appealed for a high turnout — which would help boost his government’s attempts to use the election as a sign of progress.

“This gives a picture of trust in the government, the elections and the people’s right to take part in this democratic process,” he said.

Although violence is sharply down — and with pre-election attacks relatively limited — authorities were unwilling to take any risks.

An election without major attacks or charges of irregularities would provide a critical boost for Iraqi authorities as the U.S. military hands over more security responsibilities. But serious bloodshed or voting chaos could steal momentum from supporters of a fast-paced withdrawal of U.S. combat troops next year.

The provincial councils have no direct sway in national affairs, but carry significant authority through their ability to negotiate local business deals, allocate funds and control some regional security operations.

This election is also a possible dress rehearsal for bigger showdowns in national elections later this year, when the U.S.-allied government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could face a power challenge from the country’s largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

The security measures implemented for the election brought back memories of the most deadly years of the war. The closely monitored frontiers with Iran and Syria were among borders that were sealed. A nighttime curfew also was in place, apparently to block extremist groups that plant roadside bombs under cover of darkness.

Voters in many places passed through double-ring search cordons. Women teachers and other civilians were recruited to help search for possible female suicide bombers.

Iraqi helicopters swept over major cities and aircraft monitored stretches of the closed Iranian border, security officials said.

In Baqouba, the capital of the violence-wracked Diyala Province northwest of Baghdad, long lines formed.

“We were not able to vote during the 2005 elections because of the deteriorating security situation,” said Ahmed Jassim, 19. “But now we feel safe enough to go out and vote.”

Iraqi special forces in full combat gear patrolled streets in Baghdad’s Fadhil district, which was once a hub in the Sunni insurgents’ car bomb network. The tense atmosphere there contrasted with the more relaxed mood in other parts of the city.

In Baghdad’s Azamiyah neighborhood — once a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein’s regime — a voting station at a girls’ high school still carried a small image of Saddam, calling him the nation’s “hero and martyr.”

But one voter, Zaid Abdul-Karim, 44, said the elections will hopefully ease tensions between Shiites who gained power by Saddam’s downfall and Sunnis who perceive themselves as sidelined since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

“These are the people we need now: people who represent everyone in Iraq and have no sectarian bias,” said Abdul-Karim, a government employee.

In the southern Shiite city of Basra, 40-year-old Haidar Mahmoud said he felt pressure to vote for the Supreme Council candidates, but changed his mind and backed al-Maliki’s supporters.

“If it wasn’t for al-Maliki there would still be killing on the street. Maybe I can change Basra for the better by voting today,” he said.

Among Sunni groups, powerful newcomers could reshape the political hierarchy.

In Anbar province, the Sunni tribes which rose up against Al Qaeda and other insurgents — and led to a turning point of the war — are now seeking to transform their fame into council seats and significantly increase their role in wider Iraqi affairs. Their gains could come at the expense of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic party in the current government.

A couple who fled to Kuwait in 2004 to escape the violence returned to their northern Baghdad neighborhood to vote Saturday. Salih Zawad Ali and his wife Zeinab looked longingly around the Sulaykh district after casting their ballots.

“I hope and pray we can come back,” she said.

(AP)

CNN:

Turnout high in peaceful Iraqi provincial elections

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Voting ended Saturday evening for Iraqi provincial elections, and preliminary results were expected “soon after” the polling stations closed, according to the Electoral Commission.

Voting was extended by one hour, until 6 p.m. (10 a.m. ET), partly because a curfew had been lifted, allowing more Iraqis to get to the polls, said Judge Qassim al-Aboudi, a member of the Independent High Electoral Commission.

More than 14,400 candidates from more than 400 political entities were registered and approved, and 15 million Iraqis registered to vote. Each voter emerged with one finger dipped in purple ink as proof of voting.

Those elected will have regional power over the essentials Iraqis have been desperate for — basic services and jobs.

There was a sense of jubilation Saturday in Anbar province, the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad, reported CNN’s Arwa Damon, who was touring polling places with United Nations observers.

The sprawling desert area was dominated largely by al Qaeda in January 2005, when the first provincial elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein were held.

In 2005, fearing retribution from the terror group, only about 2 percent of the population voted, and Iraq’s Sunni population mostly boycotted the elections.

Many Iraqis were voting for the first time Saturday.

In Najaf, the Shiite center south of Baghdad, voters also were anxious to let their voices be heard, Damon said.

“Politics has broken out in Iraq. This is no longer defined by violence. … It’s truly a proud moment,” Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told CNN. “The distance that we have come is truly inspiring.”

Observers believe the provincial vote will be a gauge of the country’s political direction and a guide to how to parliamentary elections will turn out later this year.

The results should spell out the status of the Sunni Arab “awakening” movement and the popularity of the Shiite factions, such as those backing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

There were tough security measures in place throughout the country, including security rings around polling centers and vigorous searches of voters.

Nevertheless, three mortars exploded Saturday morning near a polling center in central Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown about 100 miles north of Baghdad, an official with the Interior Ministry told CNN. There were no casualties.

Police also detained four people wearing Iraqi police uniforms who they said had thrown stun grenades at voters outside a polling center in Tikrit.

Al-Maliki was among those voting Saturday, casting his ballot in the Al-Rasheed Hotel in the highly protected and fortified Green Zone of Baghdad. The election is evidence that Iraqi people live under a high level of safety, he said.

Iraqi, American and U.N. officials consider the vote a major event in the new Iraq. Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. official in Iraq, said the polls are “iconic” and could represent “a symbolic message.”

“It is the opportunity for the Iraqis to show that democracy can go forward, and we can move forward from bullets to ballots,” de Mistura said.

Only four of the 6,000 polling centers did not open on time. The four stations were delayed for logistical reasons, election officials said.

Voters at a polling center in Anbar province were excited. Some said this was the first time they had participated in an election.

Iraqi police and army troops lined the streets of downtown Ramadi, a city in central Iraq in Anbar province.

One of the police officers said he was proud to be working on Election Day.

“Let the people see us standing here,” he said.

Iraqi police vehicles blasted music outside, creating a festive atmosphere. One man brought his 7-year-old brother with him to the polling center.

“I want him to learn about democracy,” the man said.

Fraud is still a main concern among voters. The United Nations, which has been heavily involved in the process, is gearing up for the post-election period expecting allegations of fraud from the candidates who don’t win, de Mistura said.