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More than 70% of Iraqi voters may have taken part in Thursday's parliamentary election, Iraqi electoral officials have said.

Election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said first estimates show that between 10 and 11 million Iraqis cast their ballot.

Counting is under way after the landmark vote but results are not expected for at least two weeks.

International observers said the vote generally met international standards.


IRAQ ELECTION FACTS
275-seat National Assembly will have four-year term
18 provinces are taken as separate constituencies
230 seats allocated according to size of population
45 seats distributed to parties whose ethnic, religious or political support is spread over more than one province
Some 15 million eligible to vote
One third of candidates in each party must be women

Election guide
Who's who

"The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq is to be commended on the way it has performed its role under the difficult circumstances prevailing in Iraq," Paul Dacey, spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections, said.

The international observers did say there were some concerns over technical and procedural issues.

Mr Dacey said that holding three major electoral events in one year, as Iraq had done, would have presented a significant challenge even for well-established democracies.

Sunni votes

Around 15 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for the country's first full-term government since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.

The vote will elect 275 members of a national parliament, who will in turn appoint a president.

Voting was extended in many parts as Sunni Arabs took part after boycotting previous elections.

Election officials reported high turnouts even in Sunni insurgent strongholds such as Falluja and Ramadi.

The voting took place amid a massive security operation, with 150,000 Iraqi troops and police deployed and borders and airports closed.

US President George W Bush described the vote as "historic", and appeared delighted with the high turn out.

Sunni nationalist insurgent groups had urged people to vote to prevent the election of a government dominated by Shias and Kurds.

However, the al-Qaeda in Iraq group denounced the election and threatened attacks. Two civilians and a US marine were slightly injured in morning attacks.

The new national assembly will replace the transitional government elected in January. Some 6,655 candidates, 307 parties and 19 coalitions registered for the ballot

Inside scrutineers and election officials sat rather awkwardly at small school desks handing out ballot forms.

The forms are complex, printed on large A5 sheets of paper, there are 106 alternative lists to choose from.

Voters put their marks against one, fold the paper into a quarter of its size, dip their right index finger into a small bottle of indelible ink to prevent multiple voting, then slide the paper into the sealed plastic ballot boxes.

Tight security

There was a suicide bomb at this school during the January election, so security was tight.

At each end of the street police created two corridors of razor wire, one for men and one for women.

At the end of the razor wire line they were body-searched.

There was another body search at the entrance to the school and everybody had to show identity cards.

On some faces there was a brief flicker of alarm when a distant explosion was heard - there was a mortar attack on the green zone five kilometres away.

But nothing today would stop the people from voting.

Celebration

Men and woman came, many carrying small children, and in the street outside the school they formed silhouettes, in swirls of dust on a warm autumn day in Baghdad.

One voter said: "This is stability, at last".

Another, with tears in his eyes, told me: "This is the beginning of a new Iraq. I am so happy."

Iraqi men go through security check prior to voting at an election centre at Al-Sadr city, east of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005
Security was high in Muthanna after a bomb at previous polls

Iraqis are known for their spontaneous, and often poetic eloquence.

Ali al-Musawi, a Shia Muslim originally from Sadr city said: "Iraq is like a ship in a storm being tossed form left to right, and now we need a new captain to take us to land and to safety."

One man hoped the election would bring an end to the occupation, but this would depend, he said, on maintaining unity.

"Stability can only come from unity. When we have stability," he said, " then the Americans can go."

In Muthanna, in Baghdad, it has certainly been the day of unity and celebration that President Jalal Talabani said he hoped for.