AMMAN, Jan 28: Jubilant Iraqi exiles cast their ballots in a "vote for freedom" on Friday and urged their compatriots in Iraq to defy militants and do the same.

In Australia, Iraqis danced in the streets, twirling scarves and singing, and proudly displaying blue ink on their fingers which told the world they had cast the first votes.

"This is a mark of freedom," said Kassim Abood, outside a polling booth in a disused furniture warehouse in Sydney. "I didn't think I would live long enough to see this moment."

More than 280,000 out of one million eligible Iraqis living abroad have registered to vote. Absentee voting in 14 countries will continue till Sunday, the day the poll is held in Iraq.

"I have been dreaming of this day to tell my grandchildren that in the first election in the history of Iraq I was the first woman to vote," Lamaa Jamal Talabani, 60, said in Amman.

Security was tight at most polling venues. Police in Jordan, Syria and Turkey cut off traffic with roadblocks around voting stations. Private guards with metal detectors searched voters.

"It's a great day. I know it's an imperfect election but still we need to go ahead," Barakat Jassem, 26, a student in the United States, said after voting in New Carrollton, Maryland.

"People should not be afraid to vote," said Nassima Barzani, 68, proudly clutching an Iraqi flag as she voted in Sydney. Voter turnout was slow on the first day in many centres with organizers expecting things to pick up over the weekend.

In the United States, few braved the frigid Michigan weather early on. Polling workers were the first to vote, including Yaqoob al Awsa, who was celebrating his 39th birthday.

"This is a special day for all Iraqis," said Awsa, a painter from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who has been in the United States for seven years. "I wish this is a new beginning for a free Iraq."

In Iran, the largest centre for registered Iraqi voters aboard with about 61,000, queues formed outside a Tehran polling station. Many were women in traditional black chadors.

Iranian television repeatedly broadcast footage of Iraq's top Shia religious authority. Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, and called on Iraqis to vote for candidates he is thought to back.

Militants bent on wrecking the poll have unleashed attacks around Iraq, bombing polling stations and vowing to kill voters. The International Organization for Migration, which is running the out-of-country voting, said it was running smoothly.

In London, the atmosphere at the Wembley polling station was festive. People applauded as each ballot was cast, with voters grinning and showing the purple voting mark on their hands. -Reuters