Undeterred by scattered violence, Iraqis voted in overwhelming numbers in an election today, with minority Sunni Arabs who boycotted the last poll determined not to miss out on power again.
The demand to vote was so strong that polling stations were kept open an extra hour in some areas to allow those waiting in line to cast ballots. In Saddam Hussein's home province more than 80 per cent voted, an electoral official said.
The largely peaceful vote, which will raise US hopes that a stable government can pave the way for American troops to pull out of Iraq, was in sharp contrast to January's election for an interim assembly, when 40 people died.
Sunni Arabs mostly boycotted that poll but took part with enthusiasm on Thursday, backed by nationalist rebels who vowed to protect those who voted.
Turnout in 10 hours of voting was at least 10 million, or 67 per cent, Election Commission chief Hussein Hendawi told Reuters, much higher than the 58 per cent seen on January 30th.
In Kurdish regions and the Sunni north turnout was high, and in Falluja it touched 70 per cent, local officials said.
"I'm delighted to be voting for the first time because this election will lead to the American occupation forces leaving," said Jamal Mahmoud, 21, in the battle-scarred Sunni city of Ramadi.
All polls were closed shortly after 6 pm (3pm GMT) and counting began immediately. As electoral workers opened each ballot box they said a quick prayer. Some provisional results may be known today, but definitive tallies could take two weeks or more, the Electoral Commission in Baghdad said.
United Nations envoy Ashraf Qazi was pleased: "All in all it was a good day and a historic day." A White House spokesman also called it a historic day.
Informal polling around the country showed the ruling Shia Islamist Alliance and their Kurdish allies still dominant in their southern and northern bases respectively.
But there also seemed to be a strong turnout in favour of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who heads a secular slate with candidates from across Iraq's sectarian divides. He has sought to split the previously dominant Islamist Shia vote.
While voting went well generally, two people were killed in mortar attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar in the north and three, including a US Marine, were wounded when a mortar round landed in Baghdad's Green Zone as polls opened.
The interior minister said a suicide car bomber was shot dead in Baghdad and police said they arrested another east of the capital. The US military separately announced that a Marine had been killed near Ramadi yesterday.
But a nationwide three-day traffic ban, and the presence of 200,000 Iraqi soldiers and police backed up by US troops, succeeded in protecting 6,000 polling stations.