Da Gulf News del 15/12/2005
Originale su http://www.gulf-news.com/region/Iraq/10005099.html

Scattered attacks fail to disrupt big Iraqi vote

Baghdad: Iraqis turned out in large numbers on Thursday for a largely peaceful election that sharply contrasted with a bloody polling day last January.

With borders sealed, a three-day ban on traffic and a mass presence of police and troops, with 160,000 Americans keeping discreetly in the background, Thursday's vote contrasted with a bloody polling day last January.

The strict security measures brought Iraq to a halt as about 15.5 million Iraqis were called to vote for a 275-member parliament, with leading candidates pledging to restore stability and pave the way for an exit of foreign troops.

"Ballot boxes are a victory of democracy over dictatorship," said Prime Minister Ebrahim Al Jaafari as he cast his vote.

Only scattered insurgent violence broke the general calm.

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.

A guard was killed and a policeman wounded by a bomb at a polling station in Mosul on Thursday, one of several blasts as polls opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) in the northern city.

A mortar blast set off sirens in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone government and embassy compound. Two civilians and a US Marine were treated for minor injuries, the US embassy said.

Mortars also broke the nationwide calm in Samarra and nearby Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

An explosion rocked Ramadi, another bastion of Sunni Arab revolt.

But in the most remarkable turnaround from the January 30 poll, people lined up to vote in the western city, determined to have a say in the new, fully empowered, four-year parliament. They had boycotted the first, US-backed election in January.

"I'm delighted to be voting for the first time because this election will lead to the American occupation forces leaving Ramadi and Iraq," said 21-year-old Jamal Mahmoud, reflecting a view common among voters across the sectarian divide.

Bitter at the power exercised by an interim parliament of Shiite Islamists and Kurds, Sunni militants said they would defend polling stations in cities like Ramadi against groups, such as Al Qaida, who vowed to disrupt the vote.

Hadi Mishaal, who was wounded in fighting for Saddam against Americans in 1991, and who hobbled 2 km on a crutch to vote in Baghdad with his wife, said:"I hope we can have a government that will help me and give me my rights.

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