Eight die as Iraqis defy violence to vote

Iraqis voted today in an election testing the mettle of the country’s still-fragile democracy as insurgents killed eight people across the capital with a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the day.

About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the election which will determine who will lead the country as US forces go home and whether the country will be able to overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.