Not long after dawn broke over Baghdad the explosions began: volleys of mortars and desperate suicide bombers and once again blood ran into the soil. But by then it was too late. Many Iraqis were already on the streets, walking to vote. Raad Abdullah shrugged his shoulders at the sound of another blast and led his wife and son past a coil of razor wire as they went to join the queue.

The queues snaking through Najaf’s dusty, broken streets were long and getting longer but no one complained: centuries of waiting were coming to an end. Iraq’s Shi’ites have at various times tried the sword and the gun to win the political power they saw as their birthright.

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. ”The numbers were very good, in contrast to our expectations,” said Adil al-Lami, the chief Iraqi electoral officer.