Iraq Elections

Residents celebrate on the street waving with flowers, flags and posters of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and al-Sadr in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Jan. 31, 2005. A day after the vote, jubilant Iraqis sifted through ballots, tallying the results of an election that millions hoped would lead to democracy and hasten the departure of 150,000 American troops.

Some of 52 Iraqis are counting on Monday, Jan. 31, 2005, Iraqi absentee votes in a 50-by-20 meter hall in one of Damascus' suburbs, Duma, Syria. Eighty international observers are supervising the counting process. Some 16,500 Iraqi exiles have registered for the Iraqi elections and by the end of the polling 90 percent of the registrants have voted to choose a National Assembly that will draft a new Iraqi constitution.

Iraqi policemen, their vehicles decorated in celebration of Sunday's landmark election, escort a convoy of ballots from a polling station in Jisr Diala on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 31, 2005.

An Iraqi Army soldier is wrapped in an Iraqi flag as he secures a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005, when Iraqis lined up to vote in their country's first free election in a half-century.

A counting official for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq starts counting ballot papers in candlelight because of a power cut in a polling station in the center of Az Zubayr, Iraq, Jan. 30 2005.

Fatima Ibrahim of the Barzani tribe, followed by her mother-in-law, Salha Omar, line up to cast their ballots for the Iraqi elections at a polling station in downtown Irbil, Iraq, Jan. 30. 2005. They are "Anfal Women," widows and daughters of 8,000 Barzani men reportedly killed by Saddam Hussein during the 1980s. Kurds in scores attended the election in the hope of gaining a significant voice in the interim Iraqi Parliament.

Iraqis line up at a school polling station in the At Maeel area of Basra, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005. Iraqis defied threats of violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century Sunday. Insurgents seeking to wreck the vote struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including nine suicide bombers.

Iraqi women wait in line to enter a polling station in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Jan. 30, 2005.

Women get searched before entering a polling station in downtown Irbil, Jan. 30. 2005. Kurds in scores attended election in hope to gain significant voice in the interim Iraqi Parliament.

Election officials count ballots under the scrutiny of monitors after polling stations closed, late evening in Irbil, Jan. 30, 2005. For 2.1 million registered voters in Iraqi Kurdistan, elections went smoothly and without violence.

An Iraqi man casts his ballot at a polling station in Jisr Diala on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005.

Two elderly Iraqi women comfort each other on their way to a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan 30, 2005, to vote in their country's first free election in a half-century.

Iraqis line up to vote at a polling station in the center of Az Zubayr, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005. Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations.

An Iraqi man is silhouetted as he casts his vote at a polling station in the center of Az Zubayr, southern Iraq, Jan. 30 2005. Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations.

An iraqi man takes guidence from his son on how to fill in the election form at a polling station in the center of Az Zubayr, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005, as the country holds elections. Officials expect preliminary results in six to seven days and final results in about 10 days.

An Iraqi woman holds up her hand, and shows a purple finger, indicating she has just voted, as she leaves a polling station in the center of Az Zubayr, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005. Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations.

Iraqi soldiers check an Iraqi man arriving with his donkey at a polling station in Basra, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005, to vote in their country's first free election in a half-century.

An election official moves ballot papers - his ink-dyed finger signifying he has voted - in Basra, southern Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005, as the country holds its first elections.

People cast their votes at a polling station in downtown Erbil, Jan. 30, 2005. Kurds in scores attended the elections in the hope of gaining a significant voice in the interim Iraqi Parliament.

Iraqis gather outside al-Muitasim polling station following a mortar attack that killed three and injured seven, in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Jan. 30, 2005. Iraqis turned out to vote Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century as insurgents made good on threats of violence, launching at least three deadly suicide bombings and heavy mortar strikes at polling stations.