Higher than expected numbers of Sunni Muslim voters appear to have turned out at the polls on Sunday in the regions of Iraq that have been worst affected by the insurgency.
Election officials in Baghdad made early claims suggesting more voters had turned out than expected in the provinces across central and northern Iraq, where resentment at the United States occupation has been strongest.
”The numbers were very good, in contrast to our expectations,” said Adil al-Lami, the chief Iraqi electoral officer. Several militant groups had warned Iraqis in these areas not to go to the polls and one Sunni party had withdrawn itself from the ballot.
There were reports, however, that in some areas election workers were too frightened to work and that polling stations did not open.
A security clampdown, in which private cars were banned on the streets on Sunday, meant it was difficult to get a clear picture of the voting in the more dangerous Sunni regions.
In Baghdad there were at least nine suicide bombings, mostly targeted in the western Sunni districts and yet witnesses spoke of queues of people lining up to vote. In Yarmouk, a wealthy district where many former Ba’athists and army officers have large villas, crowds of voters were seen at some polling stations.
”It was just like the days when people were voting for Saddam. There were lots of people in the street going to vote,” said Saif Safa’a (22) a student. ”I would say three-quarters of the people in Yarmouk went to the polls. Nobody seemed to care about the resistance.”
Even in Fallujah, a city half-destroyed by an American assault last November, there were reports of a stream of people turning out to vote. ”We want to be like other Iraqis, we don’t want to be always in opposition,” one voter, Ahmed Jassim, told Reuters.
Fallujah became a symbol of the Iraqi insurgency last year when several militant groups made their bases in the city. Election officials allowed people to register and vote on the same day in the province to encourage voters.
In Baquba, a mixed Shia-Sunni town north-east of Baghdad, there were reports of crowds going to vote. In one polling station CNN reported at least 1 400 votes had been cast, although several polling stations in the city did not open because staff were too frightened to work.
Even in Mosul, a large city in the north that has been gripped by violence in the past three months, officials reported voters queuing at the polls. An insurgent group led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed it was responsible for seven attacks in the city yesterday, mostly on polling stations.
But other areas saw few voters. One man in Adhamiya, a violent Sunni suburb of northern Baghdad, said although some polling stations were open there was little sign of any voters. ”There is a polling station in a school near us but we haven’t seen anyone going to vote,” Nafir Salah, a student, said.
Reports from Samarra, another Sunni town north of Baghdad, said there had been several gun battles and few voters.
In Ramadi, a violent provincial capital to the west, one resident said most polling stations appeared to be closed.
”There are no cars in the street and although there have been people walking there is no sign of anyone going to vote,” Bilal al-Bedawi said by telephone. ”The polling stations are closed and the election workers didn’t come.” In Baiji, another Sunni town north of the capital, polling stations were also closed because staff there were too scared to work. – Guardian Unlimited Â