Joyful Iraqi Exiles Vote in Landmark Election
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Jubilant Iraqi exiles cast their ballots  in a "vote for freedom" on Friday and urged their compatriots  in Iraq to defy insurgents and do the same.
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A quarter of a million Iraqi exiles, or  90 percent of those registered, voted abroad in their  homeland's historic election, organizers said on Sunday.
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Some couldn't read, but knew their party's identification number on the ballot. Others couldn't see, but were led to the polls by police. Across wide swathes of Iraq, especially in the southern Shiite and northern Kurdish areas, Iraqis went to the polls Sunday, expressing fierce determination and pride, together with hope that the election will improve their hard lives.
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Some came on crutches, others walked  for miles then struggled to read the ballot, but across Iraq,  millions turned out to vote Sunday, defying insurgents who  threatened a bloodbath.
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Iraqis from Britain's 250,000-strong community began registering to vote in the first democratic polls to be held in their country of birth in half a century.
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With Iraq's crucial election coming up on Jan. 30, people still have strikingly different views on the vote.
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Waiting patiently in long lines at polling stations, Iraqis in the mainly Shi'ite southern city of Basra celebrated the chance to vote Sunday.
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Exiled Iraqis began registering to vote Monday in their homeland's first independent election in nearly 50 years, with dozens arriving at polling stations in 14 countries from Australia to Britain to the United States &#151; and many expressing confusion at the process.
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Some smiled, some were stoic and others  hid their faces as Iraqis went to the polls Sunday, braving  anti-U.S. insurgents determined to drown the historic vote in  blood.
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Iraqis held their breath at the unaccustomed quiet in the capital Tuesday, reveling in post-election euphoria as officials began what they said could be a week-long count of ballots and political jockeying began over the next government.
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Iraq's historic election was widely hailed as an unexpected success on Monday but diplomats and analysts warned that the failure of insurgents to wreck the poll did not mean they were on the run.
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Wahab Murad, 43, flew in from Denver with his 20-year-old son, Dana, to cast absentee ballots in Iraq's first independent election in nearly 50 years. As in many polling places across America, the mood was upbeat as expatriates danced, sang and celebrated.
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Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq's landmark elections, propelling to power the groups that suffered the most under Saddam Hussein and forcing Sunni Arabs to the margins for the first time in modern history, according to final results released Sunday.
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For most Americans, registering to vote can be a tedious, humdrum process. For most Iraqis in this country, it's a brand new world.
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Iraqis around the world cast ballots on the final day of overseas voting Sunday, with Australia extending voting at one station because of a riot and bomb scare, and Iraqi exiles streaming to polling stations in Jordan.
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Iraqi expatriates traveled hundreds of miles to cast ballots Sunday in their country's election, joyously dancing in ethnic garb and expressing relief that family members were able to vote safely despite violence in Iraq.
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The present conflict in Iraq signals a contrast of paradoxical proportions. The Iraqi people, their interim government, and their largely US and British occupiers are preparing for landmark elections early in the new year.