Dubai: Millions of Iraqis cast their ballots on Sunday as bombs, mortar rounds and rocket attacks killed 38 people and wounded 110 following Al Qaida's threat to disrupt the voting.
The capital Baghdad bore the brunt of the violence with around 70 mortars raining down on mostly Sunni areas as people voted in the second parliamentary ballot since US-led forces ousted dictator Saddam Hussain in 2003.
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Interior Minister Jawad Al Boulani told Gulf News that he "voted for Iraq".
Despite the scattered violence, the mood was relatively jubilant.
"Today I regained my patriotic feelings, today I feel more Iraqi than the past seven years," Ahmad Hatif, a film director, told Gulf News.
"Things were normal in the whole of Iraq and the security in each province helped in minimising the terrorist attacks on electorate in the country," Judge Qasim Al Aboudi, spokesman for the Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad, told Gulf News.
Troop withdrawal
The outcome of the election will also be critical for Washington as it prepares to significantly reduce its military presence in Iraq this year and complete a full troop withdrawal next year. Preliminary results are expected on Thursday and full results are expected on March 18.
Most observers say it will take at least a couple of months of political horse-trading before a new government can form as no political bloc was set to emerge dominant from the vote.
