Iraqi Vote Draws Big Turnout Of Sunnis

Iraqi election officials, using a lantern because of electricity cuts, count ballots at a polling station in the northern city of Mosul. The voting for parliament proceeded relatively peacefully around Iraq. (By Namir Noor-eldeen -- Reuters)

In Fallujah and Baghdad, several people complained that their names were not on the list of registered voters and asserted that the various problems were part of a deliberate attempt by the Shiite-led government to suppress the Sunni vote.

"I am 100 percent sure this was intentional, because despite what they say, they don't want us to participate," said Omar Hussein, 65, a retired teacher who, along with 10 family members, walked to five different polling stations and could not find their names. They had voted without incident in the country's Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, he said.

In Basra, a Shiite city at Iraq's southern tip, conversations with voters and an exit poll conducted by local newspapers suggested the Shiite alliance would score a decisive victory in the south.

The newspaper poll, based on interviews with voters leaving the polls in four southern provinces, showed the Shiite alliance leading Allawi's party 2 to 1. That would be a stronger showing for Allawi than he had expected in the south and would potentially strengthen his hand in trying to form a coalition with enough seats in the parliament to form a government.

Basra officials acknowledged the election there was being held under the dominating influence of Shiite factional militias, which permeate the ranks of the local police. An independent, secular candidate, Majid Sari, said he worried that the police would intimidate observers posted at polls to ensure the balloting was fair.

"We are quite afraid of election fraud and forgery," he said after a morning tour of polling stations. "The places are full of Iraqi police, and the observers are afraid of them."

Many voters in Basra said they were voting for the Shiite alliance on the advice of leading clerics, called the marjaiya . "I vote for them because the marjaiya said so," said Yusef Ibrahim Abbas, 51, an oil engineer dressed in gray traditional robes, as he cast his vote Thursday morning.

Secular candidates were hoping that such public declarations were for show and that voters would express dissatisfaction with religious candidates when they marked their secret ballots.

Even among voters who disagreed on their choices, there was near unanimity on the desired goal: security. After more than two years of bombings and assassinations throughout Iraq, the word was on the tip of nearly every voter's tongue.

"I'm afraid to walk on the streets. It's not stable here," said Sana Abdul-Wahab, 29, a Sunni housewife. "In these historic days, what we need is stability and security."

Many of the voters shared Abdul-Wahab's sense of history and celebration.

Zaydan Khalif, 33, wrapped himself in the Iraqi flag as he headed to the polls. "It's the national feeling," he explained.

Finer reported from Fallujah. Correspondent Doug Struck in Basra, staff writer Ann Scott Tyson in Tall Afar and special correspondents Naseer Nouri and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad, Omar Fekeiki in Fallujah, Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Dlovan Brwari in Mosul and Salih Saif Aldin in Tikrit contributed to this report.