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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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Iraq vote ends without incident
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| Contributor | kal |
| Last Edited | kal Jan 31, 2009 03:41pm |
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| Category | General |
| Media | Newspaper - USA Today |
| News Date | Saturday, January 31, 2009 09:40:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Millions of voters headed to the polls today to cast ballots in Iraq's first election in four years, selecting from thousands of candidates competing for powerful local government positions in 14 of the country's provinces.
With the country on tight lockdown, no significant violent incidents were reported as of late Saturday afternoon in any of the provinces where voting was taking place.
"Everything has gone smoothly," Mohammed al-Khamlishi, an Arab League election monitor, said in an interview outside a polling station in central Baghdad. "There have been no major problems."
As in past elections since the fall of the former regime, airports and borders were closed, and thousands of polling stations were secured by Iraqi security forces. Iraqi troops confiscated mobile phones, cameras and even cigarettes before they would allow voters proceed to the ballot box.
A ban on vehicles was also instituted for the day, an effort to thwart insurgents from using car bombs to upset the balloting. But by late afternoon, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had lifted the ban to give voters who had yet to cast their ballots a last chance to race to the polls.
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