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Iraqis estimate over 70% turnout

by BBC (reposted)
More than 70% of Iraqi voters may have taken part in Thursday's parliamentary election, Iraqi electoral officials have said.
Election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said first estimates show that between 10 and 11 million Iraqis cast their ballot.

Counting is under way after the landmark vote but results are not expected for at least two weeks.

International observers said the vote generally met international standards.

"The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq is to be commended on the way it has performed its role under the difficult circumstances prevailing in Iraq," Paul Dacey, spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections, said.

The international observers did say there were some concerns over technical and procedural issues.

Mr Dacey said that holding three major electoral events in one year, as Iraq had done, would have presented a significant challenge even for well-established democracies.

Sunni votes

Around 15 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for the country's first full-term government since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.

The vote will elect 275 members of a national parliament, who will in turn appoint a president.

More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4534260.stm
by ALJ
More than two-thirds of Iraqi voters turned out in the country's landmark election, according to first estimates on Friday.

Millions of votes were being counted after Thursday's election for the first full-term government since Saddam Hussein was ousted from the presidency in 2003. There was little violence, unlike a vote in January.

Farid Ayar, a senior electoral official, said: "The number of whose who took part in the ballot should be between 10 and 11 million voters, according to our first estimates."

A figure of 11 million voters would put turnout at around 70%.

However, final results however are not expected for at least two weeks and the country faces much political horse-trading before a new government is installed.

Kamran Qaradaghi, spokesman for Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, said: "Iraqis are ready to determine their future by democratic means through the ballot box."

Strong turnout

Shia parties scored well in their strongholds in the south of the country, while Sunni regions also reported strong turnout.

Global leaders hailed the vote, which many hope will end the violence raging since Saddam's downfall in April 2003 and pave the way for an exit of US-led foreign troops.

More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A3BEA300-929A-4E79-AD2F-CE3249C97D81.htm
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