(31 Jan 2009)
++MUTE++
Al-Rasheed Hotel, Baghdad
1. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki going into voting booth
2. Nouri al-Maliki putting ink on finger to show he has voted, placing ballot in box, leaving
Al-Rasheed Hotel, Baghdad
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister:
"I have not been worried so far. There are no dangerous cases of fraud or preventing voters to cast their votes. Until now, things are going well in respect of security and technically, thank God."
Al-Rasheed Hotel, Baghdad
4. Iraqi Vice-President, Tareq al-Hashimi, casting vote
Al-Rasheed Hotel, Baghdad
5. Ayad Allawi, former Iraqi Prime Minister, studying ballot paper, walking to voting booth
6. Ayad Allawi placing his ballot in box
Azamiyah, Sunni neighbourhood in north Baghdad
7. Wide of man with child walking to polling station next to barbed wires after being searched by security
8. Voters registering in polling station
9. Man casting ballot
Sadr City, Shiite stronghold of Baghdad
10. Wide exterior of Tiba Intermediate School which is being used as a polling station
11. Voters in booth
12. Voter dipping his finger into inkpot
13. Man casting vote
Najaf, Shiite city
14. Voter arriving at polling station, his ID is checked by security troops
15. Men standing in voting booths
16. Woman casting ballot
Baghdad's Karradah neighbourhood
17. Staffan de Mistura, UN envoy to Iraq, entering polling station
18. Various of de Mistura talking to election officials
19. De Mistura inspecting a ballot box
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN envoy to Iraq:
"I will be able to make an analysis at the end of the day, but what I have seen has been a good organisation, a good attendance and a good system of implementing all the items and the rules of an election."
Baghdad, Omar al-Mukhtar Preparatory School
21. Various of woman voting
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Safiyah al-Suhail, independent lawmaker:
"Our women will be able to get the 25 percent of the seats of the council, and I believe this is a constitutional right where (we) will be really supported by number of Iraqi women in this country and the democratic groups and political parties. We are really proud of our women who were candidates and who were courageous to run for such elections."
23. Women leaving polling station after voting
Baghdad
24. Election official puts security tag on ballot box
25. Election official cuts security tag on ballot box
26. Officials pours ballots onto table for counting by lamplight
27. Various of election officials counting ballots
STORYLINE
Iraqis passed through security checkpoints and razor-wire cordons to vote on Saturday in provincial elections that were considered a crucial test of the nation's stability as US officials consider the pace of troop withdrawals.
Polls opened shortly after dawn after a step-by-step security clampdown across the country, including traffic bans in central Baghdad and other major cities and closure of border crossings and airports.
Voting ended 11 hours later with no reports of major violence, though voters at some polling stations complained that their names did not appear on lists.
Balloting was extended for one hour to accommodate voters.
Officials said counting would begin on Sunday with preliminary results are not expected before Tuesday.
Although the voting was generally peaceful, a shooting occurred in Baghdad's Sadr City district.
Shiite lawmaker Ghufran al-Saidi said a military officer opened fire and injured two people after voters chanted slogans at a polling station.
One person was killed and one injured, he said.
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