Democracy comes at a price as death toll mounts

POLLING officials counted votes by candlelight last night as Iraq tallied its dead after an election which divided the country.

As night fell and power supplies failed, jubilant voters in the north and south cleared from the streets in darkness.

In the capital and around the heart of the country, where at least 44 were killed in insurgent attacks, an election curfew was coming into force with families reflecting on a day of renewed bloodshed.

Officials said turnout among the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57% that had been predicted, while UN officials described the process as “representative and fair”. But Iraq’s first democratic election in a generation came at a price.

A string of suicide bombs across Baghdad claimed many lives, with militants infiltrating voting queues before detonating their devastating payloads.

The catalogue of violence in Iraq included two suicide bombers at opposite ends of the capital who killed at least 10 voters and injured six, while four policemen were reported dead in separate suicide attacks.

South of the capital, three people died in an explosion on a bus carrying Sunni Arabs to a polling station.

In the Sadr City district, a further four were killed and seven wounded in a mortar attack on a voter centre.

Four others have been reported dead in Baghdad attacks and a guard was killed in an assassination attempt on the interim justice minister.

Explosions were reported in Mosul, Baquba and as far south as Basra, where voters flocked to polls.

The Shia dominated south, and Kurdish north hailed the election as a resounding success, claiming a turnout of as high as 70%.

It proved a stark contrast to the rebel towns of Fallujah and Ramadi, where insurgent violence stopped all attempts at polling. In the southern town of Az Zubayr voters filled the air with a cacophony of song, chant and celebratory gunfire until nightfall.

At a counting centre in the town, like locations across Iraq, ballot boxes were emptied and began to offer a glimpse of the future of the country.

Counting officials from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq worked there with torches and candles, as electricity failed.

Sorting national votes into the 111 candidates lists which stood, one official said: “Here we have had a very successful day.

“People from every region came to join our election here, some voters told us they had travelled days ago to be in Az Zubayr.

“Everyone was happy and excited, it has been a great day.”