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Iraq's landmark polls open amid violence
(Xinhua & Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-30 14:32

The eligible voters in Iraq began to go to the polls on Sunday for the first landmark election since the removal of Saddam Hussein, marking a major step in the country's political transition.

A suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint near a polling station in west Baghdad soon after voting began, killing a policeman, police sources said on Sunday.

American soldiers from the Washington National Guard stand Saturday outside a polling station in Jisr Diala south of Baghdad. Military officials say Iraqi security forces will guard the polling sites on Sunday, election day. [AP]

Two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were also wounded in the attack near the Zahraa school, used as a voting centre.

More than a dozen loud blasts, believed to be mortar fire, echoed across the city centre shortly afterwards.

The polls opened on a chilly, dark morning at 7 a.m.(11 a.m. Beijing time) and were due to stay open until 5 p.m. (20p.m. Beijing time).

The Iraqi voters will elect 275 members of a national assembly, which will oversee a new government to take over from the interim government the US occupation authority appointed in June 2004.

Another task of the new assembly will be to draft a new constitution.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, a total of 111 candidate lists, presented by nine coalitions, 75 parties, 27 individuals, have been approved to compete.

Altogether, 7,471 candidates, including interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, will run for the seats in the National Assembly, representing themselves or their parties and coalitions.

Under the electoral law, all Iraqis aged 18 years or older on Jan. 1, 2005 can vote. More than 14 million Iraqis are eligible.

Threat of Bloodbath

A suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint near a polling station in west Baghdad soon after voting began, killing a policeman, police sources said on Sunday.

Two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were also wounded in the attack near the Zahraa school, used as a voting centre.

More than a dozen loud blasts, believed to be mortar fire, echoed across the city centre shortly afterwards.

Iraqis will report to 5,220 designated voting centers in the 18 provinces of the country. About 1.2 million overseas voters will be allowed to have absentee voting in 14 countries.

At least 100,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed across Iraq on the election day, with the US forces being called in for emergencies.

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