Just another reminder that the surge worked. Thank you to George Bush, to all American soldiers and marines, and to the people of Iraq.[Al Arabiya Latest] Polling stations in Iraq closed on Sunday after a parliamentary election which militants tried to disrupt with attacks that killed 38 people and wounded 110.
Hamida al-Hussaini, an electoral commission official, said the polling stations had closed at 5:00 p.m. (2:00 GMT) and that the voting process would not be extended. Voters who were already inside the polling centers would be allowed to cast their ballots, she added.
Chairman of Electoral Commission Faraj al-Haidari said the voter turnout was "good despite (militant) attempts to terrorize citizens"
Earlier, Al Arabiya correspondents reported that voter turnout exceeded 70 percent in the capital Baghdad and 50 percent in in the Anbar province, and recorded less than 50 percent in Karbala.
The city of Nasiriyah, the fourth largely populated city in the country, emerged as a heated election battleground between Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, Sadrist leader Bahauddin Araji, and Shiite cleric Iyad Jamaleddine