Strong turnout reported in Iraq election

Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election today, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas that had shunned the election last January. US hopes were high that the election could give Sunnis a greater stake in running the country and help calm the insurgency.

Several explosions rocked Baghdad, including a large one near the heavily fortified Green Zone, and a bomb killed a hospital guard near a polling station in Mosul.

But violence overall was light and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom came to polling stations wrapped in their country’s flag.

An alliance of Shiite religious parties, which dominates the current government, was expected to win the largest number of seats – but not enough to form a new administration without a coalition with rival groups.

That could set the stage for lengthy and possibly bitter negotiations to produce a government.

Up to 15 million Iraqis were to choose 275 members of the new parliament from among 7,655 candidates running on 996 tickets, representing Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish, Turkmen and sectarian interests across a wide political spectrum.

Iraqis do not vote for individual candidates, but instead for lists – or tickets - that compete for the seats in each of the 18 provinces.

Some preliminary returns were expected later today, but final returns could take days, if not weeks.

The Bush administration hopes the new parliament will include more Sunni Arabs to help establish a government that can lure other Sunnis away from the insurgency.

Such a development might make it possible for the United States and its partners to start to withdraw their troops next year.

Sunnis appeared to be turning out in large numbers – even in insurgent bastions such as Ramadi and Haqlaniyah – in an effort to curb the power of Shiite clerical parties who now control the government.

Major insurgent groups had promised not to attack polling stations, and some polling centres in Ramadi were guarded by masked gunmen.

“I came here and voted in order to prove that Sunnis are not a minority in this country,” said lawyer Yahya Abdul-Jalil in Ramadi. “We lost a lot during the last elections, but this time we will take our normal and key role in leading this country.”

Teacher Khalid Fawaz in Fallujah said he also participated “so that the Sunnis are no longer marginalised”.

And 28-year-old college student Yassin Mohammed Samarra said he voted so that “no particular (religious) sect controls the country”.

In Fallujah, the former Sunni insurgent stronghold over-run by US forces in November 2004, hundreds packed a high school polling station, with many saying they saw the vote as a way to get rid of the Americans and the Shiite-dominated government.

“It’s an extremist government we would like an end to the occupation,” Ahmed Majid, 31, said.

“Really the only true solution is through politics. But there is the occupation and the only way that will end is with weapons.”

Shiite parties had urged their followers to turn out in large numbers, too. The country’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, told Shiites to support candidates who defend their principles – a veiled warning against turning toward secular political movements.

“They are clerics, and clerics do not steal our money,” said Abbasiya Ahmad, 80, as she voted for the Shiite religious bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, at a Baghdad polling station. “We want people who protect our money.”

Turnout was also brisk in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, especially in Kurdish districts.

“This is the day to get our revenge from Saddam Hussein,” said Kurdish voter Chiman Saleh, a Kirkuk housewife who said two of her brothers were killed by the ousted regime.

In Baghdad’s predominantly Sunni Arab Azamiyah district, the head of one polling station said that by midday, about one-third of the 3,500 registered voters had shown up to vote. In January, many polling stations in Azamiyah didn’t even open.

At Azamiyah’s al-Nuaman school, security was tight and the street on either side of the building was blocked with cement blocks and razor wire. People were arriving in small numbers. Women were not allowed to take their bags inside the centre and mobile phones were banned.

Voters at the station had little enthusiasm for the Shiite coalition that has governed the country since April 28. In January, few people in Azamiyah voted and some polling stations didn’t even open.

“We want to choose Sunni candidates. We want them to be in power because they are capable of providing security and they do not kill or beat us,” said Khali Ibrahim, 70, as he hobbled up the stairs leaning on a cane.

Such comments reflect the sectarian tensions that threaten the nation’s future and the Bush administration strategy – Sunnis have repeatedly complained of abuse at the hands of Shiite-dominated security forces.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, highlighted a key looming fight – possible amendments to the constitution – as he cast his ballot in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah.

“I hope that the Iraqi people will stay united. We hope that the people will vote to keep the constitution that was approved by the Iraqi people,” he said.

Election of the new parliament, which will serve a four-year term, marks the final step in the US blueprint for democracy. The vote will cap a process that included the transfer of sovereignty last year, selection of an interim parliament on January 30 and ratification of the constitution in October.

The new parliament will name a government, including a new prime minister.

“In spite of the violence, Iraqis have met every milestone,” US President George Bush said in Washington.

For the Bush administration, the stakes are nearly as high as for the Iraqis. A successful election would represent a much-needed political victory amid growing doubts about the war among the American public.

“We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of a brutal dictator,” Bush said. “It is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in its place.”

Insurgent threats and boycott calls kept many Sunnis at home in the January election despite a national turnout of nearly 60%. That enabled Shiites and Kurds to dominate the current legislature, sharpening communal tensions and fuelling the insurgency.

This time, more Sunnis Arabs were in the race, and changes in the election law all but guaranteed strong Sunni representation.

More than 1,000 Sunni clerics called on their followers to vote, and insurgent groups, including al Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic Army in Iraq, pledged not to attack polling stations.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police were guarding polling stations, with US and other coalition forces standing by in case of trouble. US troops and bomb-detecting dogs checked thousands of polling stations before handing over control to Iraqi police.

US officials warned that a successful election alone will not end the insurgency. Also needed is a government capable of reconciling Iraq’s disparate groups.

The Americans also were eager to avoid protracted negotiations to choose a new prime minister and cabinet – a process that dragged on for three months after the last vote.