BAGHDAD, Dec 15: Iraqis turned out in force on Thursday for a landmark poll to choose a government many hope will heal a nation wracked by violence and sectarian feuding since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Electoral officials extended voting by an hour owing to the massive turnout, which preliminary estimates put at between 60 and 80 per cent, higher than in an October referendum, with the highest rate in the Sunni majority province of Salaheddin.

“Turnout was very strong in all regions, even in Fallujah (a guerrilla stronghold),” electoral official Hussein Hindawi claimed.

Strict security was enforced as 15.5 million Iraqis were called to vote for a four-year, 275-member parliament, with top candidates pledging to restore stability and pave the way for an exit of foreign troops.

Despite the massive security lockdown, three people died in attacks, while mortar strikes in Baghdad, including one against the fortified Green Zone claimed by an Al Qaeda-linked group, wounded four civilians and a US marine.

“This is our day of victory, they will not drive us back to our homes, this is the end of terrorism,” said Safia Mohammed, one Shia voter reacting to one of the periodic explosions in the capital.

“It’s a national celebration for all Iraqis,” declared President Jalal Talabani, the country’s first Kurdish head of state.

The White House said the election marked a ‘historic day’, while in Baghdad, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and three US senators symbolically dipped their fingers in ink used to identify Iraqi voters.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw similarly hailed the election as a ‘great’ and ‘historic’ day allowing Iraqis to look forward to a better future.

The vote, the third this year, marks a new start following the US-led invasion in March 2003, two transitional governments and the adoption of a constitution in October.

Iraqis, the elderly and infirm included, walked to the booths because of a vehicle ban aimed at curbing car bomb attacks.

In the capital and in Fallujah, disabled men in wheelchairs and on crutches joined neighbours to cast their ballots, with many demanding security and the restoration of public services such as electricity and water.

In Najaf, as well as the main southern city of Basra, residents celebrated an anticipated victory for the dominant religious Shia group, the United Iraqi Alliance.

A total of 7,655 candidates and 307 political entities, nearly triple the number that stood in January, competed for office.

Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi, tipped by many as the next prime minister, forecast that ‘the next parliament will represent all Iraqis’.

Most Sunnis boycotted the January election, Iraq’s first free vote in half a century which was marred by violence that killed almost 40 people.

A top British general told the BBC that the election provided ‘growing confidence’ that a handover of security mandates, allowing foreign troops to leave Iraq, would begin in the first half of next year.

Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said Rome would withdraw 300 more soldiers from Iraq next year.

The costly 2003 invasion has seen around 2,154 US soldiers killed. President Bush admitted on Wednesday that the war had been based on faulty intelligence. He also estimated that 30,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed.

Saddam’s trial on charges of crimes against humanity was adjourned for the election.—AFP