Strong Turnout For Iraq Vote
Not Much Violence; Results Promised Within Two Weeks
-
Play CBS Video Video Millions Vote In Iraq Men and women of all ages and religious sects poured into the polls today across Iraq. Lara Logan checks out polling places in Baghdad.
-
Video Sunnis Vote, Iraq Moves Ahead They boycotted past elections, but Sunnis turned out in high numbers to elect a parliament. This combined with a lack of violence seem to indicate Iraq taking a step forward, Kimberly Dozier reports.
-
Video Mideast Observes Democracy What does a fledgling democracy look like from just beyond its borders? Sheila MacVicar watches voting in Iraq with Saudi Arabians.
-
-
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2005 (Getty Images/Ali Al-Saadi)
-
A police commando guards voters waiting to cast their ballots in Mosul, Dec. 15, 2005 (Getty Images/Mujahed Mohammed)
-
A man shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in central Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2005. (Getty Images/Laszlo Balogh-Pool)
-
Men wait in line to vote at an elementary school in Mosul (AP)
-
A woman votes in Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2005 (AP)
-
-
Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
-
Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
-
Interactive To The Polls Iraqis vote for their first permanent, democratically-elected government. Find out what's at stake.
So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Difficult times lie ahead, however. The coalition of religious Shiite parties that dominates the current government is expected to win the biggest portion of the 275 seats, but will almost certainly need to compromise with rival factions, with widely differing views, to form a government.
Up to 11 million of the nation's 15 million registered voters took part, election officials estimated, though they had no official turnout figure.
Several explosions rocked Baghdad as the polls opened, including a large one near the heavily fortified Green Zone that slightly injured two civilians and a U.S. Marine, the U.S. military said. An Islamic insurgent group, the Victorious Sect Army, posted a claim of responsibility on a Web site within hours. The claim was not verified.
But violence overall was light and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom turned out wrapped in their country's flag on a bright, sunny day and afterward displayed a purple ink-stained index finger — a mark to guard against multiple voting.
"The sense I got from speaking to people here in Baghdad was that this is an historic day here and Iraqis are anxious to stand on their own and govern themselves without occupation," reports CBS News correspondent Lara Logan. "Even in hostile Sunni areas that shunned the last election, turnout already appears to be strong."
In other developments:
"There's going to be a real election here and I think there's going to be a significant turnout. That's a very important first step," Biden said on CBS News' The Early Show.
Many Sunnis said they voted to register their opposition to the Shiite-led government and to speed the end of the U.S. military presence.
"Liberation is the most important thing for all Iraqis," said Sunni grocer Omar Badry. "I don't care if we die of thirst and hunger, as long as the Americans leave."
Opposition to the American military presence runs deeper among Sunni Arabs, the minority group which enjoyed a privileged position under Saddam, than among any of Iraq's other religious and ethnic communities.
While Sunnis were defiant, Shiites and Kurds seemed hopeful the new government would be more successful than the outgoing one in restoring security.
A common theme, however, appeared to be a yearning for an end to the turmoil that has engulfed Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition invaded in March 2003 to topple Saddam's regime.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
