BAGHDAD, Jan 31: Millions of Iraqis voted in provincial elections on Saturday in a crucial test for a nation struggling to emerge from years of strife and to strengthen its fledgling democracy.

Security for the country’s first ballot since 2005 was extremely tight with Iraqi police and military deployed in force as part of ramped-up measures aimed at preventing militant attacks and turnout was forecast to be high.

Only a few incidents of violence marred what was otherwise a peaceful vote which wrapped up at 1500 GMT, an hour later than planned.

About 15 million people were eligible to vote to elect councils in 14 of Iraq’s 18 provinces.

Results are expected to start rolling in on Tuesday. Turnout is being closely watched, particularly among minority Sunnis who massively boycotted the last parliamentary elections in 2005.

“This is a victory for all the Iraqis,” Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki said after casting his ballot in the highly-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

He said an expected high turnout will be an indicator of “the Iraqi people’s trust in their government and in the elections” and “proof that the Iraqi people are now living in real security”.

Security has improved in recent months, but insurgents still mount attacks on civilians and security forces.

“The people are afraid to come to vote because of the extremists, but I came to vote to show to the people that they don’t have to be afraid,” said Mushtar Jabar, a 32-year-old taxi driver in Baquba, the capital of Diyala.

Sargun Hanna, 53, a Christian in Hamdaniyah, a town near Mosul, said she had not intended to vote but changed her mind. “I came today to send a message to the terrorists who attacked Christians — we want to tell them that we are citizens of Iraq.”—AFP