Pictures: Iraqis vote in parliamentary election

Iraqi voters gather to cast their vote at a ballot station in the country's parliamentary elections in Baghdad. On Sunday, Iraq closed its airspace and land border crossings as voters headed to the polls to elect a parliament that many hope will deliver much-needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement.

An Iraqi woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station during Baghdad's parliamentary election. The election was held several months early under a new law designed to help independent candidates - a response to mass anti-government protests two years ago.

An Iraqi woman gives her fingerprint before casting her vote at a polling station in Baghdad.

The vote was scheduled to be held next year but was brought forward in response to a popular uprising in the capital Baghdad and southern provinces in late 2019.

An Iraqi elderly woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest endemic corruption, poor services and rising unemployment. They were met with deadly force by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.

A total of 3,449 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliamentary elections, which will be the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Polls opened early in the morning, but few voters turned up amid tight security measures in the Iraqi capital, with airports closed until dawn tomorrow across Iraq.

In the country's early parliamentary election, Iraqis show their inked fingers to photographers after voting at a polling station in Baghdad on October 10, 2021, which has been billed as a concession to anti-government protests but expected to be boycotted by many voters who distrust official promises of reform.

Iraqi security forces pose for a photo with an elderly man after he cast his vote, as Iraqis go to the polls to vote in the parliamentary election, in Baghdad.

A woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election, in Najaf, in Iraq.

More than 250,000 security personnel across the country were tasked with protecting the vote. Soldiers, police and anti-terrorism forces fanned out and deployed outside polling stations, some of which were ringed by barbed wire. Voters were patted down and searched before going in to cast their ballots.

A child in an Iraqi military uniform accompanies his mother to a polling station in Baghdad, as Iraqis go to the polls to vote in the parliamentary election, in Iraq.