Voting gets under way in Iraq

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Polls opened after a step-by-step security clampdown across the country, including traffic bans in central Baghdad and other major cities and a closure of border crossings and airports.

There were no reports of serious violence as voting got under way. In Tikrit, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, three mortar shells exploded near a polling station, but caused no casualties, said police.

A bomb was defused after being found near a Tikrit voting centre, police added.

In the Baghdad neighbourhood of Karradah, Iraqi police and army soldiers manned a series of checkpoints. Stores were closed and the streets cleared of cars.

A group of US soldiers patrolled on foot, well away from polling centres. The US military assisted in security preparations for the elections, but said troops would only be called in on election day if needed.

In the western city of Fallujah, once the centre of the Sunni insurgency, police used their patrol cars to help some people get to voting stations.

More than 14,000 candidates are running for 440 seats on the influential councils in all of Iraq's provinces except for the autonomous Kurdish region in the north and the province that the includes oil-rich city of Kirkuk, where ethnic groups were unable to reach a power-sharing formula.

Preliminary results are not expected before Tuesday.

Many voters went home waving purple-tinted index fingers, which are dipped in ink after casting ballots. The ink-stained fingers became an iconic image of Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein elections four years ago.