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Iraq holds first election since US withdrawal Iraqis vote in parliamentary polls in security clampdown
(about 5 hours later)
There is heavy security across Iraq as the country votes in its first parliamentary elections since US troops withdrew three years ago. Iraqis have voted in their country's first parliamentary elections since the withdrawal of US forces in 2011.
Polling began at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) and closes at 18:00. Heavy security was in place, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police deployed to protect polling stations and a vehicle ban in Baghdad.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hoping to win a third term in office amid a growing insurgency in the west of the country. Dozens of attacks targeting the election across Iraq left 14 people dead, officials say.
Iraq is experiencing its worst unrest since 2008, with 160 people killed in the past week alone. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is seeking a third term, amid heightened sectarian tensions and worsening violence.
Some 22 million Iraqis are registered to vote, with almost 50,000 polling stations open across the country. Last year, the death toll in Iraq was the highest since the peak of the sectarian insurgency in 2006 and 2007, with the UN reporting that 7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces were killed.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Baghdad says the streets of the capital are almost empty because it is in lockdown. About 2,000 have been killed in the first three months of this year, during which Sunni tribesmen and militants linked to the jihadist Islamist State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have taken control of parts of Anbar province.
He says that many of the voters will have to go on foot - the authorities have banned cars for the day in an effort to stop suicide attacks and car bombers. Curfew lifted
Some voters face multiple searches before being allowed into polling stations. Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said voting was taking place in only 70% of Anbar on Wednesday, with no polling stations open in the insurgent-held city of Falluja. Voting was also limited in the provincial capital, Ramadi, where troops have been waging street battles for months.
The first incidence of violence reported on Wednesday was in the town of Dibis, near Kirkuk in the north, where police said a roadside bomb had killed two women walking to a polling station. The streets in Baghdad were almost empty in the morning because the authorities banned cars in an effort to prevent bombings.
Wave of attacks Many voters had to make their way to polling stations on foot and faced multiple searches at checkpoints before being allowed to enter.
By early afternoon, national turnout stood at 30%, according to senior election commissioner Muqdad al-Sharifi, and the vehicle curfew in Baghdad had been lifted partially to facilitate voting.
Turnout was expected to pick up in the afternoon before the polls closed at 18:00 (15:00 GMT).
Despite the heavy security presence, officials reported attacks on polling stations and people on their way to vote in northern and western Iraq, the AFP news agency said.
They included mortar fire, roadside bombings and a suicide blast. One polling station was seized by militants and blown up after election staff and those waiting to vote were forced out.
After a week in which 160 people died, the authorities will probably feel the vote was a success, in spite of the deaths reported, the BBC's Kevin Connolly says.
'Better life'
Twenty-two million people were eligible to vote in the elections, with 276 political entities and 9,000 candidates contesting the 328 seats in the Council of Representatives.
While it is difficult to predict the outcome of the poll, Mr Maliki is still expected to be a pivotal figure in the coalition-building process which will follow the election.While it is difficult to predict the outcome of the poll, Mr Maliki is still expected to be a pivotal figure in the coalition-building process which will follow the election.
His State of Law alliance, a Shia coalition, has largely avoided the fragmentation seen by other political blocs since the last election. His Shia-dominated State of Law alliance has largely avoided the fragmentation seen by other political blocs since the last election.
Our correspondent says that a result should not be expected any time soon. It took nearly 10 months to assemble a government after the last election, he says, and it is likely to take quite a lot of horse trading this time. While exit polls are expected within hours of polls closing, our correspondent says that a final result is not likely any time soon.
There were some queues reported at Baghdad polling stations early on, although the voting appeared to slow later in the morning. It took nearly 10 months to assemble a government after the last election in 2010, and it is likely to take quite a lot of horse-trading this time, he adds.
Baghdad voter Essam Shukr, whose son died in a suicide bombing last month, told Associated Press: "We want a better life for our sons and grandchildren who cannot even go to playing areas or amusement parks because of the bad security situation. We want a better life for all Iraqis."Baghdad voter Essam Shukr, whose son died in a suicide bombing last month, told Associated Press: "We want a better life for our sons and grandchildren who cannot even go to playing areas or amusement parks because of the bad security situation. We want a better life for all Iraqis."
Abu Ashraf, who voted in west Baghdad, told Agence France-Presse: "It is necessary to change most of the politicians because they have done nothing, and they spend years on private conflicts." Abu Ashraf, who voted in west Baghdad, told AFP: "It is necessary to change most of the politicians because they have done nothing, and they spend years on private conflicts."
The campaign has so far been a violent one, with 50 people killed on Monday when soldiers, police and overseas citizens cast their votes. The campaign has so far been a violent one, buy the BBC's Rafid Jaboori says people across the country told him that it would not deter them from voting, particularly in the Shia heartland of the south and the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north-east.
One bomb struck a Kurdish political rally in the town Khanaqin, killing 30 people and wounding at least 50 others.
On Friday, at least 31 people were killed as a series of blasts targeted a Shia election rally in Baghdad. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - an al-Qaeda offshoot - said it had carried out the attacks.
However, the BBC's Rafid Jaboori says he has travelled to various places in Iraq over the past few days and people have been telling him the violence will not put them off voting, particularly in the Shia heartland of the south and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
More than 9,000 candidates are competing for 328 parliamentary seats.
There will be no voting in parts of Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where security forces still battle Islamist and tribal militants for control of the provincial capital Ramadi and nearby Falluja.